Speculation Thread

**Nikolos** · April 27, 2010, 08:13 PM

Ok, so Zhuge has hinted that he is happy with the mod in its current form and that he will no longer pursue any further development other than tweaking and fixing bugs . . .
HOWEVER!!!!
The new Aristeia News - Subscribe thread which has been opened and is only updatable by Zhuge and (I'm guessing) Zenith.
Zhuge has welcomed others to try thier hand at updating this fantastic mod, however they will not be able to update this thread with news

So, i speculate that, with the great flood of appreciation for this mod, and the fan ideas that didn't pop up with the small team working on the mod, that perhaps Z&Z are working on some kind of secret project(s)?

I'm not going on alot here, but if the new news post has been opened simply so Zhuge can moderate new mods others have developed and give his official thumbs up to them, then my whole theory is blown. Also, Z&Z have never been too secretive regarding big projects. . .

What does everyone else think?

**The Spaniard** · April 27, 2010, 08:40 PM

It would be good to see some third party add-ons and sub mods. A sub mod about the Heracleidae would be cool. I bet someone would want to make Heracles a unique hero just for kicks.

**Nikolos** · April 28, 2010, 01:13 AM

Yes, seeing a provincial campaign of Herakles would be fun, but would lack substance. the only "Total war" deed that he was involved with was the first sacking of Troy. Unless I am missing something.
Aeneases battles in Italy would be cool. I remember "The Talisman of Troy" had a fictional battle between Diomedes and Aeneas. If wikipedia can be trusted, Diomedes went to Italy after his queen tried to assassinate him, so there is enough to work in a total war campaign there?

**The Spaniard** · April 28, 2010, 03:00 PM

It could be possible, there are enough nations named in the Aeneid to make a small campaign. It would kind of be like BI were you already have some well off factions and the Trojans would be the "invaders" with one city and multiple stacks.

Coincidentally, while I was driving home today, I had a great idea and I just had to come and post it. I remember how Delysid posted about having mount Olympus as a wonder, and I was thinking on how to expand on it. In Alexander vanilla, I remember how there was that one Indian city that no one could reach. Now how about this: what if one were to make Mount Olympus a city right next to the Mount Olympus on the campaign map, but just make it completely inaccessible. It would probably have to be a huge city. Who would control this city, thats right, why not have a new faction called "The Twelve Olympians" controlling it. In a sense they would be like the SPQR and Papal States, without the mission assigning. To really give this credibility as a faction, make them have a huge trade output. How would you benefit from this? The answer would be having Olympian diplomats scattered around the map that you would have to find and conduct diplomatic relations. In order to get trade rights from the Olympians you would have to give them something in return (i.e. huge amount of money). In mount Olympus itself you could have custom heroes of all or most of the Twelve Olympians.

Also in regards to the Heracleidae, I was referring more to one centered around the Heracleidae/Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese. Even if it didn't revolve around Herakles himself, it would be cool to have a hero model of him anyways.

**Zhuge_Liang** · April 28, 2010, 05:49 PM

I like this thread. It has become similar to what I was hoping to achieve with the suggestions thread.

I enjoy reading your speculations, so have no intentions of bursting any bubbles.

@Spaniard - it is an interesting idea, especially if it could be coupled with the unique city models. The city itself could be given a model of a mountain and made inaccessible. There are problems though, such as what would happen if they bribed other settlements, the limits of trade income, and lack of ability to trade via the sea (unless a port was added in some subtle way). Of course the AI would probably never be able to cope with this, and when you compare the amount of work needed to implement it versus the added gameplay it becomes less attractive, but is still a great idea.

**The Spaniard** · April 28, 2010, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Zhuge_Liang

I like this thread. It has become similar to what I was hoping to achieve with the suggestions thread.

I enjoy reading your speculations, so have no intentions of bursting any bubbles.

@Spaniard - it is an interesting idea, especially if it could be coupled with the unique city models. The city itself could be given a model of a mountain and made inaccessible. There are problems though, such as what would happen if they bribed other settlements, the limits of trade income, and lack of ability to trade via the sea (unless a port was added in some subtle way). Of course the AI would probably never be able to cope with this, and when you compare the amount of work needed to implement it versus the added gameplay it becomes less attractive, but is still a great idea.

I had a feeling you would like it

. I think its a worthy idea, but like you said, it's a matter of added gameplay vs implementation. In terms of bribing, couldn't the unit roster of the Olympians just be made up of weak units? Something like your skeleton warriors, just not as powerful, so as to prevent them from being a regular superpower in the game.

Just to throw it in here, I'm still rooting for Memnon as a hero for the House of Dardanos

. Maybe even with Juba's face from Gladiator.

**saxdude** · April 28, 2010, 10:34 PM

I would like there to be a way to reach olympus, i wish to defy the gods!!

**Zenith Darksea** · April 28, 2010, 11:03 PM

Originally Posted by The Spaniard

Maybe even with Juba's face from Gladiator.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to have to say this, but the mythical Memnon actually came from the area of Media (modern Kurdistan in Northern Iraq) and conquered Ethiopia. He wasn't black, I'm afraid, but his subjects were.

**Spartan198** · April 28, 2010, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by saxdude

I would like there to be a way to reach olympus, i wish to defy the gods!!

I brought down Olympus as the rogue god of war Kratos, so dammit I wanna do the same in Rome: Total War!

**The Spaniard** · April 29, 2010, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by Zenith Darksea

Oh dear, I'm sorry to have to say this, but the mythical Memnon actually came from the area of Media (modern Kurdistan in Northern Iraq) and conquered Ethiopia. He wasn't black, I'm afraid, but his subjects were.

My mistake, guess I'd have to think of another face comparison.

**saxdude** · April 29, 2010, 06:35 PM

I brought down Olympus as the rogue god of war Kratos, so dammit I wanna do the same in Rome: Total War!

Aye!! let unite the heroes of greece and wage war on the gods!!!

**Dekker** · April 29, 2010, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by Zenith Darksea

Oh dear, I'm sorry to have to say this, but the mythical Memnon actually came from the area of Media (modern Kurdistan in Northern Iraq) and conquered Ethiopia. He wasn't black, I'm afraid, but his subjects were.

Surely, if his dad is Tithonus, he's not even really ethnically from Iraq. He's just from Asia Minor like all the other heroes on the Trojan side. Obviously his mother's a goddess, so it's a bit of a toss-up as to what genes she's passing on - other than the rosy fingers, don't remember much of Homer's descriptions.
Perhaps I'm over-thinking this...

**Zenith Darksea** · April 30, 2010, 10:31 AM

Yes, I think that you're putting more thought into characterisation than Homer usually did!

**jib1** · April 30, 2010, 01:54 PM

if you did do the mt olympus city for the gods as a sort of papal states faction, and you would interface with them through diplomats i was just thinking on this earlier, you change the diplomats to high preists or oricals, characters who can talk to the Gods. or they could be like soothsayers who speek like diplomats to both men and Gods. i think for olympus if you took away the ability to bulid barracks, and it only had a palace, you could create govener units trapped in the city so they can't leave, and to get their attention you have to enter diplomacy with a soothsayer in for example delphi.

i would focus on the main three or five Gods, like Zeus, Posidon, Hades because if you start adding in for example Athena you will get so weird family traits and relations, altough this might not be an issue because i supose the faction will be NON playable (just thinking about people who like to change an excellent peice of work by changing the playable factions)

**born2dive67** · May 01, 2010, 03:52 AM

Just out of curiosity has there been any speculation of going over to Kingdoms with this mod, or if its even possible? There currently are no greek mods out there and the ones in progress are nothing compared to this one. I would really love the looks of your mod on that engine.