RTR VII Preview I (Introduction and Map)

[Finn]

Welcome

Greetings, On behalf of the entire RTR VII development team I would like to welcome you to the first official Rome Total Realism: VII preview. Before we delve in the amazing project which is RTR VII, I would first like to explain how this preview is laid out. This preview has been designed to fulfill many assumptions, answer many questions, and confirm rumours and hints that you may have encountered around the RTR forum or TWC. This is in fact the official announcement of RTR VII! Ever since the release of RTR VII: Fate of Empires the RTR Team has been recruiting and working on our next new project, and today we will show you the fruits of our labour (or at least some of it ). Rest assured that this preview has faced the scrutiny and merciless standards of the dictators…I mean RTR Development Team. I do ask you all to remember that this project is a work in progress. Meaning any and all content posted in this preview is subject to change.

The RTR Team

Team Members
First and foremost, ladies and gentlemen, you are probably wondering who is actually making this mod. The creators of RTR VII are a collection of devoted and passionate individuals who enjoy modding Rome Total Realism. Members of our team can be found all around the world and are linked by this common purpose. Some members from our team can found prowling the forums of TWC, and others you might never even see. Some are veterans of modding, and others are new. This is a team that is always recruiting great new members, and occasionally losing old valued members. However, much of the team which is working on RTR: VII also worked on RTR VII: FOE in the past. So without further delay I present the RTR: VII development team.

• Annunak
• Arkaeyn
• Bladerunner900
• Caligula Caesar
• Ceasar Gubius
• Clearchus of Sparta
• DukeCanada
• Finn
• HamilcarBarca
• HouseofHam
• PatricianS
• Kepper
• MasterofThessus
• Maurits
• Mcantu
• Muizer
• Orthanner
• Quetzalcoatl
• Quinn Inuit
• Shqiponja_Hayabusa
• Switch
• Tony83

The Introduction

Introduction to Rome Total Realism VII

Rome Total Realism VII is the Grand Campaign to which TIC and FOE were the predecessors to. This next instalment uses almost all the faction slots, unit slots, building slots, you name it. We have quite literally maxed out the RTW engine with this project. With a map that extends from Atlantic coast to Asia Minor this is certainly not a miniature mod. In every sense of the phrase, RTR VII is a full conversion of RTW. With RTR VII, we hope to achieve what we have been aiming towards since the launch of TIC, and that is to truly represent the situation in the Western Mediterranean starting in 280 BC. If you enjoyed TIC, and were impressed by FOE, then RTR VII shall not disappoint.

Rome Total Realism VII begins in 280 BC. In the west, Carthage, the mighty trading nations seeks to expand the borders of its empire. In Italy, Phyrros of Epeiros has launched an invasion to suppress the power of the rising Roman Republic. To the east the Greek nations continue to descend in turmoil, no man or people great enough to re-unite the mighty Greeks as Alexander once did. To the north lays the threat of the mighty barbarians, whom all civilized men fear. With no land safe, and no people willing to be tamed, the world is on the brink of total war, and only one people will survive.

New Content

Content and Changes

At first sight there are many similarities that you will notice between RTR VII: FOE and RTR VII. This is because RTR VII is an extension of what was great in FOE. We have taken what the community loved (and perhaps that which you may have disliked) into heavy consideration, and the result is a completely new product. So you will still have great graphics, you will still have a beautiful campaign map and you will still have Pyrrhos of Epeiros in Italy during the start of the game. You will notice that Carthage, Massyli, Romans and the Celtiberians will be quite similar, or at least to the naked eye. The reality of the matter is that we are taking every faction to a completely new and innovative level. One of the main goals we strive for in RTR VII is to provide an individual feel for every faction. With a new map comes great new challenges to the player, and with new and improved factions come stunning new experiences. I'm sure you would all like to see the factions, now wouldn’t you? Well perhaps I can give you all a small peek.

Mini Map(WIP)

Playable Factions(WIP)

Political Map(WIP)

As you can see, the world has been very much expanded in RTR VII to include many new factions and regions. This includes Greece, Gaul, Asia Minor, parts of Scythia and even part of the Libyan Desert. The conflict is no longer limited to the scope of the Punic wars, but instead expanded to really portray the social/political situation at the time period. So you will notice that Macedon is quite small at the start of the reign of the Antigonid Dynastai. Sparta is a shadow of its former self (but have no fear, these madmen will not fall without a difficult fight) . We have included several new barbarian tribes and have modified factions to meet the criteria of historical accuracy. Please be rest assured that each faction will be represented as well and historically accurate as possible. Do not think for a moment that we have forgotten about the factions that were in FOE though, the changes to those factions will probably be quite substantial.

Please remember that this faction map is a work in progress. Some factions here may removed and replaced with another faction that we think would be more appropriate. So nothing is yet to be set in stone, this also applies to settlements.

Muzier's thoughts on size and scale of the RTR VII Map

Ah well it wasn't really a decision, more like the outcome of a process. Or perhaps I should say a matter of evolution rather than revolution

After RTR6, the then devs of RTR must have decided to start from scratch. I can't really say how, or why. I was only hired some time later to make that map. For whatever reason the team fell apart then. I wasn't there at the time (managed to get sacked from the team). My guess would be that it collapsed under the weight of its ambitions.

Next phase started when MarcusCorneliusMarcellus picked reassembled a team. It was decided at that point not to make the same mistake twice and start with a project of manageable proportions, which became the mini campaign The Iberian Conflict. MCM did indeed manage a lot, getting people from all over to contribute and setting up a much more structured approach to collaboration. TIC may have had a small scope, but it was quite elaborately done.

The work on TIC was quite intense though and in the months following the release, quite a few devs indicated they wanted to move on to other things in modding or in real life. At this point, only Anallein and myself were left of the core who started on TIC. Though we wanted to continue
we also knew it would be impossible for either of us to manage the team as intensively as MCM had. To survive we had to have fun again.

It was quite obvious the old RTR7 concept wasn't going to suit us. Its focus was on getting as many factions as possible into the game. That means the hard coded limits are reached just doing that. Some 4 years after the release of RTW and with RTR-PE and EB out there some of us were starting to seriously question what would be the point of doing that. Another important development was that we lost a lot of GFX input after TIC, whereas the creativity of our coding increased dramatically. That too suggested quite strongly we had to move in a different direction. These days, we are focusing a lot more on innovating gameplay and making the RTW strategic AI behave more like a historical simulation, without putting it into a script straitjacket.

Campaign Map WIP

Speaking of settlements and maps, perhaps it's time to show off the glory that is to come. The RTR team presents, the RTR VII map! Remember, this is a WIP (work in progress). So all content is subject to change.

Peloponnese

Central Greece

Northern Greece

Hellespont and the Bosporous

Pergamon

Rhodos

Thrace

Dacia

Noricum

Northern Gaul

New Roman Strat Map Settlement Models

What is a map without its settlements? Well you won't have to worry about that, we rather like our brand new strategy map settlement models..... Feast your eyes on the new Roman settlements of RTR VII!

Mini Region


Town



Large Town


City

Large City

Huge City

Ingame

Roma

Arretium

Grumentum

Cannae

Recruitment

As you can see from the preview, RTR is still going strong after all these years. The team composition may have evolved but the core mission is still the same – Total Realism! While the team is not what you would call small, we are always on the lookout for new members who can help us to continue to produce mods that can live up to the quality that is RTR. Below are the positions that we are most in need of, although, if you have a skill or interest not listed, or if you are interested in beta testing, please apply! You can do so by contacting Finn via pm.


3D Artist


2D Artist

Fans and Forum

Fans are perhaps the most important factor when developing a mod. In the end, when all is said and done, it is the fans and the followers who are going to be playing and enjoying this mod. So naturally it is in the Development Team's best interest to take the critique of the fans into consideration, and we have very much done that with FOE. So, naturally, one of the ways ours fans can directly help us in the development of this mod is (oddly enough) to complain. Tell us what ticked you off, if you found some weird bugs, what you found boring. However it's also nice to hear what you liked, so that we know to keep that portion in the game for RTR VII .

Expect to see much more coming from the RTR forum in the near future. The current RTR Team is fairly large compared to the FOE team, so this means we have more resources to work with. As a result, we will probably have more time to update the community on what the status of our project is.

On the note of forums, the RTR forum will probably be undergoing a massive overhaul in the future. If you notice some changes do not be alarmed. We thank you in advance for your understanding.

PS: We thought as a treat we would show you a render of some of the work that Tony83 is doing on the Greek factions in RTRVII. Tony's work will add a little variety to the Greek unit roster that historically is very similar. Feel free to guess which unit belongs to what faction

Ekdromoi

Credits

DukeCanada - Main text
Finn - Some text and ingame shots.
Tony83 - Unit renders and skins
PatricianS - Stratmap models/renders and RTRVII banner
Caligula Caesar - Bright ideas, suggestions and proof reading.

[apple]

Great job guys.

[Maurits]

Great work guys! Hope that this'll keep the fans bussy for a week or so!

[CanOmer]

City models are great

[Athenogoras]

Very nice preview and great models

[Anubis88]

Hm... Okay... How can i describe it? Oh yeah, AWESOME!

[Tony83]

Well done guys, a first class job. I can see that the PR side of RTR is in safe hands.

[BlackWood]

great job, I have one question ..the new version will be available to legions of Marius???

[brymht]

Very nice! I might have to fire up the old RTW CDs when you are finished.

[Maurits]

You should allready have done that, and try our latest (and best untill now ) release Fate of Empires!

[Radiso-FIN]

Awesome! The campaign map setting is brilliant. It is great you decided to split Greek cities splitted to Aetolian and Achean league, and Sparta as an independent factions.
Keep it up and good luck!

[Spartan262]

[anunnak]

Hold on for the map...there are a few changes to be made

[brymht]

Question: Obviously the Barbarian territories weren't nearly as populated as GReece, but this still seems a bit out of whack.

Will barbarian provinces get more small settlements? Will growth and income be held back in the smaller greek towns so whoever cotrols Greece does not flood everyone economically?

[Arkaeyn]

Yep, there's a faction missing on the second map that's viewable in the first map. Anyone able to guess who it is?


And I suppose it's time to change my sig to the proper title.

[Finn]

great job, I have one question ..the new version will be available to legions of Marius???

There are no current plans to have post Marius legions.

Question: Obviously the Barbarian territories weren't nearly as populated as GReece, but this still seems a bit out of whack.

Will barbarian provinces get more small settlements? Will growth and income be held back in the smaller greek towns so whoever cotrols Greece does not flood everyone economically?

The map is very much a Work In Progress so expect some changes to the current map especially around the Black Sea and points west.

[Pat89]

Question: Obviously the Barbarian territories weren't nearly as populated as GReece, but this still seems a bit out of whack.

Will barbarian provinces get more small settlements?

The Barbarian lands are still being worked on (as Anunnak stated the post before yours), but they will get far less Mini Regions (in short: MiR) than for example Greece.

Will growth and income be held back in the smaller greek towns so whoever cotrols Greece does not flood everyone economically?

We got some nice systems to ensure a flood of money won't be something that happens very often, if at all. To help keep the late campaign a challenge

(In fact, FoE already has this system, but due to an accidental imbalance in another system you don't see its effect very well )

[Anubis88]

I have a suggestion, and i hope you wont take offence.

Don't add Pergamon and Asia Minor.

Why? It opens up a whole new world. If you add Pergamon they may be overpowered, since their main enemies, Seleucid Empire, Bythinia, Galatians, would not be in the game.

If think that the only possible division is to cut AM. Pergamon did not have as much influence in the west, and Macedonia didn't have that much influnce in the east...

[Pat89]

There will always be border regions and factions that live there, so you have to draw a line somewhere... And imo the border we have now is just fine to display the Achaean Sea with it's surrounding factions in all its glory

(Besides, cutting of Asia Minor would also mean we have to cut off a large part of the Balkans...)

[Freshmaker]

Love it. Thanks for the beautiful preview. You wouldn't by chance be needing any testers?