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Thread: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

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    Default TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Ten years of Total War and Total War modding!


    Editorials and PRIZE INFORMATION:

    Spoiler for Chlοë

    Total War Center is more than a gaming forum; it's a gaming community. I am using that word on purpose. We are not a decentralized group of subforums that hardly speak to each other. We are not a group of guys and gals who occasionally interact in order to ask for tips on defeating armored war elephants (although we've got plenty of that, and it's AWESOME). People make mods. People help others work on their mods, and they even pass on their skills. Some people write quality content for our publications. Others participate in intellectual debates on topics ranging from gun control to what sort of bread goes best with some brie (Hex opinion is that one can never go wrong with a nice sourdough baguette). What really brings a tear to my eye is the level of cooperation we have, and that Total War Center, while covering such a broad range of interests (Total War games, general gaming, modding, creative writing, scientific debate, politics, role-playing, and creating digital art, to name a few), is able to have such a closely-knit and amazing community. It boggles the mind, and it is my firmest belief that this community spirit, along with the consistent release of quality Total War products, is a winning combination that will ensure TWC's existence far beyond this, its tenth anniversary. We've got some amazing articles about the history of the games, exclusive wallpapers made by one of TWC's top digital artists, and a special interview with the site's owner for all of you to enjoy!

    Thank you--all of you--for making Total War Center what it is. We couldn't have done it without you. I love you.

    C.


    Spoiler for The Dutch Devil

    10 Years of TWC is a long time, and if you go back in the web archives you can check out what TWC looked like at a different time: here there is a snapshot of TWC from September 10th, 2004. This special publication is published as a homage to one of the things that kept TWC great in these past 10 years and has played a vital part in TWC's growth. From the beginning, modding has always been a vibrant community that pushed the Total War games to their limit, achieving seemingly impossible feats. In the following articles we will be taking a look at the last 10 years of Total War games and modding. For each Total War game released in the past 10 years, L-Burna and Audacia have taken an in-depth look at the modding scene and provided excellent overviews of them.


    Additionally, Haloband, a talented artist, spent a lot of time creating custom artwork; it can be found below the articles. A quick jump to them is included in the index! The images are also attached as a zip download and are included in several resolutions, including a mobile phone format that can be used on your own mobile phone. If you want to see more of Haloband's excellent work you should go to his deviant art page which can be found here.

    CA has graciously given Content 10 (TEN) keys for the TOTAL WAR MASTER COLLECTION, which includes every release, with Fall of the Samurai, Total War Battles: Shogun, and Viking: Battle for Asgard. In order to join the prize drawing, please post in this thread. The prize drawing will be on MAY FIRST. The following rules apply:
    1. All TWC members in good standing are eligible to win. This includes staff members who I normally exclude from lotteries, but does NOT include members with 3 or more points. Members with 3 or more active Moderation Points are not allowed to register or win. If a member registers, then gets 3 points, and then happens to win, I will select another winner.

    2. Members may only register one time, and with one account. I will check the winners before I send out the codes and if I find an alternate account registered I will select a different winner and ban the offending member from all future lotteries of this nature.

    3. To register, you must post in this thread one time and one time only. Multiple registrations will result in you being ineligible for this lottery.

    4. The winners will be selected via random number using this site to generate the numbers.THE PRIZES HAVE BEEN TAKEN-WINNERS WILL BE PMED SHORTLY.






    Contents


    * * *



    Medieval: Total War: Viking Invasion


    During the first few months of Total War Center’s independent existence as a small, cozy, and largely unnoticed community, The Creative Assembly announced the development of an expansion pack for the massively popular and critically acclaimed Medieval: Total War called Viking Invasion. The Viking Invasion expansion pack added a Viking campaign to Medieval: Total War taking place from 793 A.D. to 1066 A.D. set upon an expanded map of the British Isles and western Scandinavia. It replaced the original factions of Medieval: Total War with earlier Anglo-Saxon and Celtic kingdoms. The Viking faction was designed to raid the British Isles and wreak havoc as savage conquerors. The British and Irish factions had the goal of repelling the Vikings and ultimately winning control over the British Isles. The expansion pack included brand new historical units and several new innovations, including flaming ammunition that gave the player an option to set enemy castles alight. In addition, the expansion pack included a pre-battle deployment screen and three new factions added to the main Medieval: Total War campaign.


    Medieval: Total War: Viking Invasion was finally released in May of 2003 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The expansion was received well by critics in the video game industry. Reviewers felt the new gameplay features for the Vikings were the most innovative features coupled with the handy addition of the pre-battle deployment screen. Modders at Total War Center jumped at the opportunity to incorporate Viking Invasion into their latest modifications. Modifications like Medieval: Total War XL made attempts to drastically modify the original campaign through Viking Invasion. Medieval: Total War XL included a brand new map with nine new provinces, seventeen new factions, all new units, new heroes, and additional buildings. The pioneering modification created an all new trade structure and improved upon the game’s artificial intelligence. Medieval: Total War XL was among the first major modifications hosted by Total War Center for Viking Invasion. In fact, the Medieval: Total War XL release thread continues to flourish as a stickied thread in the Medieval/Shogun: Total War General Discussion forum.


    In addition to Medieval: Total War XL, Total War Center hosted other longstanding modifications for Viking Invasion during the first few years following its release. Pike and Musket Total War featured multiple campaigns during the Renaissance era, thirty different playable factions, six-hundred units available to command, and a host of new historical battles. Users continue to post in its release thread to this day. Napoleonic Total War allowed players to fight some of Napoleon’s greatest adversaries with era-specific units. It featured two new campaigns, an all new technology tree, and brand new custom battle maps. Early modifications for Medieval: Total War: Viking Invasion like these paved the way for modders everywhere to create groundbreaking and innovative modifications for the games of the Total War franchise. Had it not been for the assertive creators of Medieval: Total War XL, Pike and Musket Total War, and Napoleonic Total War, the major modifications we all know and love today may have never come to fruition. The Eagle Standard, on behalf of the users of Total War Center, expresses its gratitude and appreciation for some of the oldest modifications featured over the past ten years.


    Written by:
    Audacia​.



    * * *



    Rome: Total War


    In late September of 2004, Activision released the third installment of The Creative Assembly’s Total War franchise, a game that revolutionized real-time tactics and turn-based strategy. It followed The Creative Assembly’s immensely popular Medieval: Total War and the developer’s groundbreaking debut, Shogun: Total War. Before long, The Creative Assembly realized the kind of game they had created. Rome: Total War transformed the Total War series forever, bringing the captivating political and military upheaval of the Roman Republic to life through all new gameplay mechanics complimented by stunning new visuals. Featuring a massive campaign map extending across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, Rome: Total War allowed players to manufacture an empire across three continents. It became widely popular and received universal praise, winning numerous awards and high scores from gaming websites and magazines alike. It even went on to become one of the year’s top ten best-selling titles. Rome: Total War is widely regarded to be among the greatest strategy video games of all time, and because of that, has perpetuated a massive following that exists to this day.


    As if developing the greatest strategy game of all time was not enough, The Creative Assembly went on to release a pair of official expansions to Rome: Total War. Released in September of 2005, Barbarian Invasion allowed the player to take control of the barbarian nations of Europe and the Middle East during the violent years of the late Roman Empire. Furthermore, Barbarian Invasion added a more complex portrayal of religion, with changes in the state religion affecting unrest and the popularity of the ruling family. The Creative Assembly then released Alexander in late 2006, which allowed the player to assume the role of Alexander the Great. Both titles expanded upon the innovative new game engine designed for Rome: Total War, in addition to bringing new cultures, factions, and warriors to the original game.


    On top of its long list of feats and accomplishments, Rome: Total War generated a persistent and loyal modding fanbase. Rome: Total War allowed for the manipulation of many game resources, including its text files and textures, resulting in the creation of numerous modifications. Modding came to encompass unit editing, the ability to control previously unplayable factions, and total conversion modifications that completely altered the original game. Modifications for Rome: Total War eventually covered almost every era of human history from the ninth century BC to the early nineteenth century, in addition to modifications that created fantasy settings like Middle Earth and the Warhammer universe. Below, we will discuss the humble origins of Rome: Total War modifications, and how they grew in both ambition and popularity over the course of ten fruitful years.


    ***


    Eight months before the release of Rome: Total War, a group of Total War fans became concerned when the upcoming game’s “barbarian” factions were being portrayed inaccurately. The group felt such factions’ representations in Rome: Total War conformed to a Hollywood stereotype rather than to historical fact, and wished to see a more realistic portrayal of barbarian factions in the game. Initially, the dissatisfied fans attempted to convince The Creative Assembly to alter their depiction of the period in line with research they had conducted. After several setbacks regarding this avenue for change, the fans resolved to modify the game themselves upon its release. Thus, in January 2004, the Europa Barbarorum modification team was formed.


    Europa Barbarorum was first released to the public as an open beta in December 2005, when the modification team transformed their research of the barbarian factions into a full scale total conversion project. Eventually, the purpose of the modification was to accurately portray all factions in Rome: Total War. Europa Barbarorum ultimately became a massive project that included all new unit models, statistics, gameplay features, a brand new musical score, and much more. The developers continue to strive to research every aspect of Rome: Total War to determine if they can improve it in terms of historical accuracy, realism, and gameplay. What had started as an initiative to convince The Creative Assembly to alter the barbarian factions in Rome: Total War has grown into one of the largest modifications in development. After seven Total War games and countless modifications, PC Gamer magazine still ranks Europa Barbarorum as the best Total War modification ever released.


    Following Europa Barbarorum’s release another group of modders eager to portray historical accuracy through a total conversion modification formed the Rome: Total Realism development team. Rome: Total Realism intended to rectify the historical inaccuracies in the original game through hundreds of minor gameplay modifications, seventeen playable factions, two-hundred new textures and models, a re-designed campaign map, and the “Area of Recruitment” gameplay mechanic. Additionally, Rome: Total Realism allowed to player to fight with new historical units wielding accurate weapons and wearing historical clothing and armor.


    Rome: Total Realism generated a great deal of excitement in the Total War fan community. An estimated eighty-thousand enthusiastic fans downloaded the modification the day after version 6.0 was released. Rome: Total Realism has been featured in several major gaming sites and magazines, including PC Gamer and GameSpot. Version 6.0 was followed by 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and finally 6.0 Gold, a compilation of all the previous patches and additional features. The modification’s developers then released a pair of smaller modifications precluding their latest project.Rome: Total Realism VII: The Iberian Conflict and Rome: Total Realism VII: Fate of Empires foreshadowed the release of Rome: Total Realism VII: Grand Campaign, which featured a campaign map that included Gaul, Greece, the Balkan areas, and part of Asia Minor.
    The massive overhaul maximized the possibilities of the Rome: Total War engine. Rome: Total Realism has grown into one of Rome: Total War’s most popular modifications. The dedicated efforts of the development team contributed to the creation of a revolutionary modification that continues to be updated to this day.


    ***


    Not long after the initial release of Rome: Total Realism, the Eagle Standard published its first issue. The publication eventually came to be the official source for Total War Center Total War content, and for ten years has brought modification news to eager Total War Center readers. The debut issue detailed one of Rome: Total War’s earliest modifications, Punic: Total War, a modification that aimed to recreate the Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome.


    Punic: Total War was still in development at the time of the article, but ultimately created an entirely new campaign map restricted to the western Mediterranean. It stretched from Hispania to Greece and was actually far bigger than the original Rome: Total War campaign map. The modification implemented location-specific troop recruitment and featured more turns per year, creating “a more cinematic environment with much more scripted events and triggers.” Punic: Total War also featured brand new factions such as Samnium, the Aechaen League, Epirus, the Massyli, and many other unique factions. The first issue of the Eagle Standard was the first of many to feature a detailed interview with the creator of a modification. Gaius Julius provided intricate answers to questions regarding his “pet project,” Punic: Total War, thus establishing the precedent for countless future interviewees.


    ***


    Darth Vader’s gaming experience started with the ATARI game machine at the age of five. At the three, he began looking at military books with pictures of knights and castles and demanded that his mother read them to him. This passion for history coupled with an infatuation for gaming directed him toward the Total War franchise. One might say what happened next was destined to be. Following the release of Medieval: Total War, Darth Vader began his legendary modding career. He created a modification that balanced unit statistics and building queues. It was a simple modification that never became very popular. But that was only the beginning.


    Darth began modifying Rome: Total War not long after its release in 2004. His first modification was a mini-modification that neutralized the bug that occurred with projectiles, especially fire-arrows. At that time, no one involved with modifying Rome: Total War had accomplished such a feat. Grateful fans sent Darth personal messages and e-mails expressing their appreciation for his minor bug fix. Inspired by this massive wave of support, Darth introduced another modification to the Total War fan community. DarthFormations aimed to modify the battle formations in the original game. Additionally, it modified the original game’s artificial intelligence unlike any other modification at that time. DarthFormations created a “smarter” AI that presented a greater challenge to the player. Darth noticed many people talking about him and his modification, and the satisfaction that he experienced as a result of this popularity pushed him to continue modding even further. DarthFormations came to encompass more unique changes in gameplay and realism and eventually gave birth to the DarthMod modification series. DarthMod was awarded its own sub-forum as an official hosted modification and became immensely popular. Its competitive AI behavior coupled with the contributions of many talented skinners greatly enhanced the original game. After a six year hiatus from updating DarthMod for Rome: Total War, Darth released DarthMod Rome v9.0 in November of last year for Rome: Total War and its expansions, Barbarian Invasion and Alexander. DarthMod for Rome: Total War kick-started the DarthMod Saga which has been enjoyed by thousands upon thousands of appreciative fans for nearly ten years.


    ***


    A host of total conversion projects launched following the release of Rome: Total War changed the Total War modding landscape forever. In addition to groundbreaking modifications like Europa Barbarorum and Rome: Total Realism, SPQR: Total War was among the first total conversion projects for Rome: Total War. In late October of 2004 lt1956 released SPQR: Total War 1.0. Whereas other modification teams at that time were focusing on realism or changing the theme of the original game, SPQR: Total War aimed to enhance the playability and enjoyment of the campaign. Its key features were longer, more frequent battles as well as adaptations to AI behavior that caused it to act more aggressively. SPQR: Total War became very popular with players who felt that the original game was too easy, thus a loyal fan base was established. While other modification teams were somewhat distancing themselves from Total War Center in late 2005, the SPQR: Total War development team never left the Total War Center community. In 2010, version 8.0 of SPQR: Total War was released. It was the final version of SPQR: Total War and it concluded a long and prosperous modding career for lt1956. For nearly ten years, fans of SPQR: Total War have enjoyed its lengthy battles and spectacular gameplay.

    ***


    Throughout the years following the release of Rome: Total War and its expansions, many other modifications made their mark on the Total War Center modding community. In September of 2006 dvk901 presented his total conversion project Roma Surrectum to the fans of Rome: Total War. The project soon grew into perhaps the single most popular modification for Rome: Total War with more threads and posts in its sub-forum than any other Rome: Total War modification. Roma Surrectum made major graphical and gameplay changes to the original game, including a new economic system with hundreds of new buildings, an accurate and graphically improved campaign map, massively upgraded battlefield environments with custom-built vegetation, and over five-hundred highly detailed and historically accurate units. However, one major feature set Roma Surrectum apart from any other modification of its time. The modification included twenty eight unique Roman legions, each complete with a historically accurate name and standard. The Roman legions brought unprecedented depth to the Roman campaign and allowed the player to truly re-create the Roman armies that conquered so much of the known world. Nearly six years after the release of Roma Surrectum I, and after an extended period of development wrought with anxiety and anticipation, the developers of Roma Surrectum released Roma Surrectum II.Roma Surrectum II was in development for three years, and it certainly shows. It is a complete overhaul of Rome: Total War totally unique in its difficulty, its historical setting, and its visual appeal. Even when many were saying that Rome: Total War was dead during the team’s development of Roma Surrectum I and its later versions, even suggesting that they move on to the then-new Medieval II: Total War, the team persisted in its efforts to deliver a work of art for its fans. To this day, the Roma Surrectum sub-forum is bustling with activity and more anticipation for the next update to this landmark modification.


    Many modifications for Rome: Total War detailed periods of history different than that featured in the original game. Hegemonia City States brought the golden age of classical Greece to Rome: Total War and featured a campaign map depicting Greece, Southern Italy, Sicily, and North Africa. The modification was dedicated to Hellenic history and the wars of the Hellenic people from the late sixth century B.C. to the Peloponnesian Wars. It was initially released in 2005.Diadochi – Total War, initially released in 2007, focused on the era between the rise and fall of the Diadochi successor states and featured two main campaigns. The modification sought to implement impeccable unit and AI balance while delivering a challenging gameplay experience. Invasio Barbarorum consisted of a series of modifications focusing on the late Roman Empire, spanning from the crisis of the Third century to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The modification continues to prove itself as the most popular modification for players seeking to protect the Roman Empire from barbarian invaders, or those seeking to destroy it. Modifications even sought to depict fantasy worlds entirely separate from the Mediterranean world depicted in Rome: Total War. Fourth Age: Total War introduced Rome: Total War players to Middle Earth and the epic world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The full-conversion project sought to reflect both the spirit and lore of Middle Earth as Tolkien saw it. The modification itself reflected the creative ability of its developers and the flexible nature of the Rome: Total War engine.


    Many, many more modifications for Rome: Total War that have not been not detailed in the Rome: Total War portion of this article have been enjoyed by appreciative fans of the Total War Center Community. The sheer number of both large and small modifications for Rome: Total War and their widely varied scopes reflects the hard work and dedication of hundreds of ambitious modders over the past decade. We are fortunate that many of these talented people were willing to share their work for free to the Total War Center community. The Eagle Standard would like to thank the countless contributors to Total War Center on behalf of our tight-knit, appreciative community. Some of Total War’s most ambitious, groundbreaking modifications have been for Rome: Total War. Without them, the modding community may not be what it is today. Even nine years after the release of Rome: Total War, modders continue to seek to improve the game, and players continue to play the fantastic modifications they create.


    Written by:
    Audacia​.



    * * *



    Medieval II: Total War


    Knights. Longswords. Armor. Steel. Blood. Everybody loves the Middle Ages. In August of 2002 The Creative Assembly brought this violent era to strategy gamers around the world with Medieval: Total War. In November of 2006, the popular video game developer brought the Middle Ages to life once more with Medieval II: Total War. The fourth installment in the Total War franchise focused on medieval warfare, religion and politics in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The time frame stretched into the era of the discovery of the New World, and simulated the discovery and conquest of the Americas. While Medieval II: Total War was built on the code base of Rome: Total War, it introduced many significant changes.


    Unlike previous Total War titles, Medieval II: Total War featured a new system of modeling troops on the battlefield. Each soldier had a varying number of elements to him such as body armor and shield heraldry with a varying number of styles. When the player entered a battle, the computer would randomly select elements for each soldier in the unit, thereby making each soldier look different from the soldiers around him. Upgrades to a unit’s armor were also depicted, such as when a unit of unarmored spearmen upgraded to have leather armor.
    Another departure from earlier Total War games was that combat was depicted more realistically with soldiers performing motion-captured attacks rather than one or two standard attacks. In addition, in Medieval II: Total War, blood could be seen on the uniforms of soldiers who had been fighting and a mist of blood would be visible on soldiers hit by arrows. The aesthetically pleasing visual additions to Medieval II: Total War added a whole new level of immersion to the game. What was in reality an intriguing strategy game became a simulation for what really happened during that tumultuous and chaotic time period in history.


    Medieval II: Total War also introduced changes to settlements. Unlike previous Total War titles, there were two kinds of settlements, cities and castles, each with different advantages and disadvantages. Castles had better defensive capabilities but generated less income, while cities generated more income but only had access to militia troops, which were generally inferior to those trained at castles. Another new feature of Medieval II was the ability to build guild halls. Guild halls provided certain bonuses such as increased movement for troops or better weapons and, like the changes introduced to settlements, added a whole new dimension to the game. Medieval II took what was revolutionary and groundbreaking about Rome: Total War and made it that much better. And that was all before the massive movement to modify Medieval II erupted.


    ***


    Almost immediately after the release of Medieval II: Total War, modders began making major changes to the original game. In late November of 2006 BigMap for Medieval II: Total War was released. BigMap allowed characters to have longer lines for movement in addition to beautifying the campaign map and adding more resources to otherwise barren provinces. Of course, BigMap enlarged the size of the campaign map as well, a feature many of its fans greatly enjoyed. Shaba Wangy’s Diplomacy Mod was another popular modification released on the heels of Medieval II. The modification made major changes to the diplomacy system of the original game. Shaba Wangy’s Diplomacy Mod eliminated minimum and maximum alliance times, leaving it largely up to the player to maintain critical alliances. The modification ensured allies would actually defend the player and created many more “power blocks” of allied factions. Subsequent updates featured nearly two hundred accurate provinces and cities, a system of dynastic succession, and brand new historical buildings and units. BigMap and Shaba Wangy’s Diplomacy Mod were among many smaller modifications for Medieval II: Total War that helped lay the groundwork for the total conversion projects that were to follow.


    Upon playing Medieval II: Total War, many players found themselves longing for more, more turns, more provinces, more units, more of just about everything. One of the first total conversion projects for Medieval II gave players just that. The Long Road featured an epic style campaign of nine hundred turns and a large custom campaign map that included nearly two hundred regions. It sought to ensure realism and historical accuracy through an eras system for units, role-playing traits and ancillaries, historical events, and dozens of new units for mercenary and faction usage. The highly detailed modification exhibited what remarkable things could be accomplished with the Medieval II: Total War game engine. Its complex system of eras and its system of traits added new levels of depth and immersion to the game. The Long Road allowed the player to experience six different eras of medieval history which corresponded with advancements in weaponry and armor. The player was also given the opportunity to role-play with in-game characters. The Long Road featured entirely unique military, leadership, governance, and command traits as well as special titles like “Lord of Nottingham.” The Long Road gained a great deal of notoriety and became one of the most popular modifications for Medieval II: Total War prior to its Kingdoms expansion. Total War Center has featured The Long Road as a hosted modification since the end of 2006, and users continue to post in the modification’s sub-forum. The Long Road still serves players searching for a highly detailed, epic campaign that will surely compromise most of their free time.

    ***


    Nearly a year after the initial release of Medieval II: Total War, The Creative Assembly released the Kingdoms expansion to the original game. The expansion featured four new campaigns depicting the discovery of the Americas, the fight for the British Isles during the thirteenth century, the Third and Fourth crusade, and the Teutonic campaign during the high Middle Ages. In addition to the four new campaigns, Kingdoms featured twenty three playable factions, over one hundred and fifty new units, the ability to indirectly command reinforcements in battles, hero characters with special abilities, new siege weapons, and new technology trees influenced by Religion and Prestige. Each campaign allowed the player to take control of a faction facing some sort of crisis, be it the threat of foreign invaders or the risk of an empire crumbling apart. Following the release of the Kingdoms expansion, most modification developers began creating modifications that required the expansion due to its multitude of improvements over the original game. Thus, yet another massive movement to modify Medieval II: Total War erupted. However, no one could foresee what was to come.


    ***


    Following the release of Medieval II: Total War, a group of developers began creating a modification which would come to be known as Stainless Steel. After the release of Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms, the development team began using the expansion as the basis for the growing modification.Stainless Steel encompassed countless new features, all of which contributed to an experience vastly different from that of the original game. The developers sought to challenge to player using a host of small modifications coupled with radical changes to both campaign and battle artificial intelligence. Furthermore, Stainless Steel brought more provinces, more factions, and numerous graphical improvements to Medieval II. Its depth and scope were unmatched by any other modification for Medieval II focused on the Middle Ages.
    Stainless Steel eventually featured a completely reworked campaign map that covered most of Europe and part of Persia. It included custom climates, mountains, hills, and map outlines based upon satellite data, and the maximum amount of two hundred settlements, all of which were historically medieval settlements. The modification featured brand new units and textures, factions like the Kievan Rus, the Crown of Aragon, and the Order of the Knights Templar, and improved AI armies with a proper mix of infantry, missile, cavalry, and artillery units. Beyond gameplay improvements, Stainless Steel featured an immersive role-playing element through new traits, ancillaries, and titles in addition to new historical and game events. In fact, Stainless Steel even included a system of army attrition and supply demands which forced the player to make more tactical decisions. Features like this and many others made for a modification of great depth. Stainless Steel modified the original Medieval II engine from the ground up. Nonetheless, it retained what people loved most about the original game. The fans reacted accordingly, and Stainless Steel became the second most popular modification for Medieval II: Total War. It continues to flourish and the developers hope to release Stainless Steel 7.0 in the near future.


    ***


    The Middle Ages were times of turbulent change throughout Europe with regards to war, religion, and technology. To the East, times were quickly changing as well. A group of developers for Medieval II: Total War sought to amend the fact that the Total War franchise had generally overlooked the Middle East beyond depicting the Crusades in Medieval II and its Kingdoms expansion. They wished to give players the opportunity to experience Middle Eastern culture, warfare, and the numerous factions that dominated the region from 1174 to 1400 A.D. Thus, Broken Crescent was born, and originally released for Medieval II: Total War. It was subsequently ported to the Kingdoms platform following the expansion’s release, and since then, has become immensely popular. The modification featured Muslim, Christian, Pagan, and Hindu factions spread across a campaign map that stretched from Constantinople and Egypt in the west to Northern India and Afghanistan in the East. The campaign map encompassed all the classical and iconic lands of the Islamic world, from Anatolia and Egypt to the Holy Land and Mesopotamia. Broken Crescent featured a detailed "Area of Recruitment" system, four unique religions, and a system of titles exclusive to the modification. Certain titles were based on the ownership of regions, while others could only be attained by killing the owner of that title. Furthermore, Broken Crescent included hundreds of completely new units made from scratch. The differences and varieties of looks within a unit were more apparent and distinct, and factions were balanced with each having its own set of strengths and weaknesses in terms of units. Ultimately, Broken Crescent delivered a campaign unlike any other. It continues to expose players to the world of Islam and remains as one of the more popular modifications for the Kingdoms expansion.


    ***


    If modifications for Rome: Total War pushed the limits of scope and creativity, modifications for the Kingdoms expansion for Medieval II completely shattered them. In addition to a plethora of historical modifications featuring different time periods in history and different regions of the world, developers began creating a host of fantasy modifications. One such fantasy modification was Westeros: Total War. The modification sought to recreate the world created by George R. R. Martin in his A Song of Ice and Fire novels. It featured the continent of Westeros at the time of A Game of Thrones just as the War of the Five Kings erupted with several powerful noble houses across the continent staking their claim to the Iron Throne. Westeros: Total War allowed the player to choose one of the important houses during the war, and it was up to the player to decide how the events would ultimately unfold. The modification featured a brand new campaign map based on the mythos as well as factions representing the various noble houses, unique and re-skinned units, several complicated immersion scripts, new character portraits, and much, much more. Westeros: Total War continues to be updated, and stands among some of the more popular fantasy modifications for the Kingdoms expansion like Call of Warhammer. Call of Warhammer was a modification based on the world of Warhammer and its complex fictional world filled with orcs, goblins, elves, and all sorts of interesting races and factions. Like Westeros: Total War, Call of Warhammer broke barriers with its immersive gameplay and raw creativity. It continues to be updated.


    It goes to show that the most popular modification for Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms, with over four hundred thousand posts in its Total War Center hosted modifications sub-forum, happens to be a fantasy modification. In fact, it features one of the most popular fantasy worlds to date. Who would pass up the chance to recreate the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy? Check out the Third Age: Total War sub-forum and you will get your answer.

    The Third Age: Total War development team began working on a modification to bring players directly into the world of Middle Earth not long after the release of the Kingdoms expansion. Third Age: Total War was released as a total conversion modification featuring Middle Earth and the opportunity to choose from different races including Men, Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs in order to free the peoples of Middle Earth or help the Dark Lord Sauron spread his shadow. The modification featured an extensive historically accurate map of Middle Earth as it was in the Third Age, including one hundred and twenty settlements taken straight from Middle Earth lore. The modification allowed the player to visit the wonders of Middle Earth, including places like the Three Towers and the Black Gate. The campaign map stretched from the evil South, where the Dark Lord reigns to the cold North wherefrom the Goblins of the mountains follow the call of the Great Eye. Additionally, Third Age: Total War featured all of the important factions of the Third Age, such as Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, Isengard, the Dwarves, the High and Silvan Elves, and many more. The modification included faction specific units based upon visual references from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy coupled with fictional units and artwork all based upon the lore of Middle Earth.


    If that was not enough to create an incredibly immersive gaming experience for the player, Third Age: Total War featured a challenging campaign complete with a new campaign and battle AI designed to force the player to make complex strategic decisions. The modification featured new aesthetics as well, including a complete rework of the 2D and 3D design, and an entirely new user interface with unique faction symbols and pictures. Furthermore, all cultures had an exclusive set of music, unit sounds, and voices. Lastly, a multitude of new videos depicting in-game events complement the rest of the modification’s eye candy.



    Finally, Third Age: Total War sought to create a completely new and heavily scripted role-playing campaign entirely different from the “usual” campaign commonly known in Total War games. The player was given the opportunity play through a story-line roughly based on the books with all the famous heroes of the books and the movies. The player would have to follow the footsteps of Frodo and his companions and fight the several famous battles of Middle Earth. Third Age: Total War delivered a Total War experience unlike any other. It transformed a historical strategy game into a complex and immersive role playing fantasy game. Third Age: Total War, like so many other modifications for Medieval II, flaunted the talents and creativity of its developers. It continues to be updated and maintains a loyal fan base.


    In addition to the modifications addressed in this portion discussing Medieval II: Total War and its expansions, a number of other modifications contributed to the massive movement to modify the original game. The Eagle Standard salutes the talented people that have made Medieval II that much better for thousands of fans across the globe. Nearly six years after the release of Medieval II: Total War, modders persist in creating groundbreaking modifications for an equally groundbreaking strategy game.


    Written by: Audacia​.



    * * *



    Empire: Total War


    Empire: Total War was released four years ago, hitting the markets in North America on 3rd March 2009. Unlike previous Total War installments, Empire: Total War takes us to the age of enlightenment, 18th century, where muskets and cannons replace swords and bows.


    Empire: Total Ware includes a host of new features never before seen in the Total War franchise. The most notable feature surely is the introduction of naval battles. Battles of course saw many changes, but some of the most important changes are perhaps on the campaign map. Politics became more detailed and more important than ever, with the introduction of ministers, each of them focusing on various aspects such as war and justice. In Empire, CA took a different approach to technology. Unlike in the Medieval age, many new technologies spread all around the world, so a logical choice was to introduce a tech tree. It's divided into three categories: military, industrial, and philosophy. The campaign map also saw some changes. It's size increased considerably. It is so large that it is divided into three theaters: India, America, and Europe, as well as trade centers, which also appear in the Total War series for the first time. Because of the huge map size, diplomats have been removed for good, now you can conclude diplomacy with any faction at any time and as much as you wish.







    In September 2009 the sole expansion pack was released, the Warpath campaign, but only as downloadable content. It focuses on 19th century America, allowing you to play with all five Native American factions. The Natives are not alone though, as USA, Great Britain, Spain, and France surround the coastline and are ready to go even deeper into Native lands. The Warpath campaign also includes new agents, new tech, and new units for the Natives.


    Circassian Armoured Cavalry from the Units of the East.

    Empire: Total War was the first Total War game to feature DLCs, ultimately culminating in four being released. The first released was Elite Units of the West on 22th June 2009. Not long after units available on special edition were made as a DLC for those who only had the standard edition. After that followed Elite Units of America and finally Elite Units of the East, the latter of which was released on 8th February 2009 due to high demand from the fans. While Empire: Total War didn't come out as polished as expected, CA put a big effort in patches to fix all the problems. And truly Empire: Total War has received the most patches and work after the release than any Total War game.


    ***


    Since Empire: Total War came with a new engine, it was less modable and harder to mod than previous titles. Despite this, we still have a lot of great modifications for Empire: Total War and other Warscape games. Let's take a look at them!




    One of the biggest overhauls for Empire, and ultimately one of the most popular mods is DarthMod Empire. Its first version was released on 10th March 2009. In the beginning its plan was to improve AI, fix inaccuracies, make units perform in battles more realistically, and to simply improve all aspects of gameplay. Here you can see Darth Vader's words about the mod: I could not resist.... it was pointless. I have recently bought Empire: Total War and I got enthusiastic with all of its features and the depth of its gameplay. I am more than pleased with this game. Still, I have traced some inconsistencies which happen to annoy me and I will fix them for my own pleasure and sense of realism. However, of course it continued to grow, reaching the top and is known as one of the best Empire: Total War mods. From day one AI has been a big focus, and has been improved further and further. Till this day, it has been made as good as an average human player and can even deliver a defeat for the player. Other significant features include increased musket range, new musket sound effects, unit stat changes, new mini map, huge armies with over 10,000 units on a battlefield, and much more. Some players only wanted the AI improvements and other minor changes, but without any significant changes to the game itself, because they still wanted to have the Vanilla feel while playing. Darth Vader took care of that and divided the mod into standard DarthMod and DarthMod Ultimate Commander. The former one includes changes to AI and smaller mods like Smoke and Blood, while DarthMod Ultimate Commander included all the features which have already been mentioned above. There's no surprise that in 2010 it won four modding awards out of eight. Over these four years its subforum has reached 277 pages, with almost 7,000 threads and over 87,000 posts.



    Piedmont's line infantry.
    ***


    Ten days after DarthMod Empire's release, another giant for Empire: Total War was released, Imperial Splendour. It aims to bring realism to the game without destroying the essence of the game, while seeks to enrich the gamers' experience and add more realism to it. Perhaps the most significant feature is the inclusion of two campaigns, one based on the Spanish Succession War and the second one focusing on French Revolutionary Wars. As a result, another significant feature is that uniforms have early, middle, and late period variants. Early and late periods focus on the conflicts mentioned earlier, but the middle period focuses on the Seven Years War. If the revolution succeeds at any time, the French uniforms change to blue. Many other factions, including minors such as Persia and Italian factions have been completely reskinned and reworked to make them more unique and increase historical accuracy.
    Let's not forget that this mod also includes completely reworked AI, but unlike Darth mod, it hasn't been a priority, but it's still able to make you sweat. In late 2009, the naval system was reworked for realism and better gameplay as well. It's very hard to sink ships of the line now because they tend to surrender before and because of the increased hull strength. Ship maneuverability has been changed and it's no longer so easy to rotate a ship and neither to stop it. The mod respectively has gained 62 pages, with almost 22,000 posts and over 1,200 threads over the past four years.


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    Period Music Mod by Onkel Tuca was released on 22th March 2009 and includes over fifty new songs, making the playlist really rich. Some of the featured composers are Mozart, Vivaldi, and Bach. It also includes a launcher in which you can turn off the non-European music. To not let it appear unrealistic and hear Native American drums while having a fierce fight with France against Austria. Users still show interest after these four years. Although for around a year it was not available for download because of a dead link. It was recently restored and people can download this mod again.


    Naval battle flag of Knights of St. John.

    Land battle flag of Austria.
    ***


    Regalia of Nations followed these great modifications in late April 2009. It did not do any gameplay changes at all, besides unlocking minor factions. Instead it fully focused on textures and adding of new sounds, unit textures, and effects. Sound has been improved greatly for weapons such as muskets and artillery, while drum cadences were made slower. All flags have been made historically correct and include much more details. Not only faction flags have been changed, battalion and naval flags have been changed too, which is a great improvement compared to Vanilla ones.




    It doesn't end with that yet. The well known Smoke and Blood Mod is a submod for Regalia of Nations. It's the first mod to add blood and improve smoke. It's much thicker and realistic, while blood makes the battlefield look like a slaughterhouse with blood coming from units and body parts being ripped apart. Already from its release, the mod has been very significant and included in many other mods, as already mentioned it is used in DarthMod Empire.




    ***


    Release of A Proper Empire: Terra Incognita followed very soon, in the last day of April. While some mods try to keep the Vanilla feel to the game, this mod totally went a different direction and with gameplay changed more than ever, but of course the change was for good, as it adds diversity to the rich mod list. Manpower and supplies now play an important part of the game, with the player no longer being able to march from Paris to Moscow without expecting huge consequences. Neither can the player afford infinite amount of units anymore. In the result, strategic planning became more important and casualties better kept as low as possible. Economic structure was completely reconstructed. Unit and building costs were changed, while research and schools have to pay upkeep cost, even if nothing is being researched. While we are it, we can't forget that new tech is included as well. Flexible artillery only becomes available from researching tech, but surely it is worth it to research it. More things like unit morale in land, naval battles, and naval combat, were completely reworked. In short, almost everything was reworked to make a completely new experience. You surely won't find another mod with so many changes.





    Rhode Island Grenadiers.
    ***


    In autumn 2009, The American Revolution Mod, an Empire: Total War overhaul was released. It focused on the American independence war with four campaigns. Doesn't it sound already familiar with Road to Independence campaign? It indeed does, and as a result, the first campaign entitled as Road to Independence Episode 3 runs from 1775 - 1783. The fourth episode expands the timeline to 1825. While in those two campaigns you could only play as USA, The Revolution Campaign gives you a chance to play as all nine major factions! The Grand Campaign has a start date of 1783, where you can also play as any major power. AI is truly great for this mod, because it uses the tweaked DarthMod Empire AI. This mod also has a huge roster of units, mostly for British and USA, where its focus lies. Other factions have not been forgotten either and new units were added to them as well, as the map still stretches from North America to Bengal. The mod also won a 2010 reward for being the Most Aesthetically Pleasing Mod.


    ***


    Instead of rebels around the map, Empire: Total War came with filled map of unplayable minors, which can be unlocked by various mods. It was already done after five days of Empire: Total War's release by Scanian. After a year, Empire Total Factions mod was released by husserlTW. It's the biggest minor faction mod till this day. It has its own launcher, meaning that you can even choose emergent factions to be playable like two Sicilies or Greece. Another advantage of it is that no files are overwritten and you can return to Vanilla at any time.


    ***
    In late 2010 American Civil War - The Blue and the Grey was released as a total conversion. It's another mod for Empire: Total War which sets its focus on the American continent, but this time brings us forward in time, to 1861. One of the biggest civil wars that the world has witnessed till this day had started between Southern states and Northern states. The South fought for independence and supported slavery, while the North wanted the Union to remain and to end slavery. The player has been given a chance to play with their favorite side of this conflict.


    It's not easy to find mods for Warpath, but this is one of them. That's one of the things which make this mod so unique. To make a real American Civil War feel to it including, music, loading screens, art, and quotes are all made related to this conflict is a big accomplishment. New units have been included and many of them have been reskinned. Some of them include steamships, Gatling guns, much more powerful artillery, new kinds of rifles and more. Famous units and organizations of the war were added as well, such as Shelby's and Quantrill's Raiders, Confederate and Union Marine Corps, Union Natives Sharpshooters and more! Not to mention all unit campaign speed has been increased to represent railroad usage.


    Written by: L-Burna.



    * * *



    Napoleon: Total War




    The beginning of the Egyptian campaign.

    The Creative Assembly proudly released their sixth title in the Total War series, Napoleon: Total War on 23rd February 2010. While at first Napoleon: Total War was planned to be an expansion pack of Empire: Total War, it was continuously expanded and continued to grow while being developed. As a result, it became an independent title and no longer considered as part of Empire: Total War. Taking a look at the enormous scope of the game, one can easily see why this became a standalone title.


    The game setting, as the title gives away, is during the Napoleonic Era. Unlike Empire, Napoleon only features the European map, but instead details are increased greatly and all focus is put on this era. That's one of the reasons why the game is separated into four different campaigns. The first campaign is the Italian campaign set in 1796. You are leading Napoleon in a fight against Austrians through northern Italy. As a result Austrians suffer a big defeat and Napoleon drives them out and brings glory to the French Empire. The next campaign is the Egyptian campaign, set two years after the Italian campaign. It's much harder, as the Italian one acts as more of an introduction to the game. The goal is to capture Egypt and march against the Ottoman Empire which is preparing two armies for counterattack. Defense isn't a possibility; the only possibility is to strike to Acre and disrupt or prevent the Ottoman Empire from doing so. However, the ultimate goal is to reach India and with local support, take it from the British. In the campaign itself, you are tasked to defeat the Mamelukes and capture total of ten regions from them and five major cities by late December 1800. Sadly, Napoleon's plan didn not succeed and later on was forced to return to France. Next comes the European campaign, which is set in 1805. There you can choose to play either with France and unite Europe under French banner or one of the coalition powers, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia, where you have to stop Napoleon or even create your own hegemony over Europe. This is basically a grand campaign, where you have freedom to play as you wish and do not have to follow any scenarios, besides victory conditions and missions, but if the player intends so, these can be ignored too. The campaign lasts till the end of 1812. The fourth campaign is an expansion pack about which you will hear later.




    Now let's look at what new features Napoleon: Total War introduced to us. The biggest one probably was attrition. Marching on Moscow from Paris will not go without consequences and if the army doesn't get a safe haven then it can turn into a disaster, like it did in real life. Replenishment has been made realistic as well. You can no longer replenish an army which is miles away from any nearby settlement, instead units replenish themselves. The rate depends on how close you are to friendly regions. The main generals for all major factions can't be killed at all, unless the faction is destroyed, so the player doesn't have to worry about Napoleon dying already in the first battle. When capturing a region, the options what to do with it return from earlier titles, a feature which was left out from Empire: Total War. You can occupy or loot the settlement or liberate a faction, and of course many other things were improved further what Empire: Total War introduced to us.




    7th Lancers for France.

    Like Empire, Napoleon received four DLCs after its release as well. On 5th May 2010 the first DLC for Napoleon: Total War was released, entitled as Coalition Battle Pack. It comes with six new units and the Battle of Friedland. In it Napoleon crushes Russian forces on 14th June 1807 and knocks them out of the war. In the end of the same month, Peninsular Campaign was released. It's considered as the only expansion for Napoleon: Total War, but nevertheless it was released like a DLC. You can play in this campaign with France, Great Britain or Spain. All have different goals. Napoleon plans to take over all Iberia and drive the British out. Great Britain supports independence of Iberian factions and wants to prevent Gibraltar from being threatened. But Spain wants to retain their independence and fight off the enemy. On 18th June 2012 two new DLCs were released, Heroes of the Napoleonic Wars and Imperial Guard Pack. The former one includes ten best infantry and cavalry units during the Napoleonic Wars for five major factions. The latter DLC came for free along with the patch. It includes six new units and a new version for Battle of Waterloo. In it you are able to play as Great Britain and with Wellington finally for all times defeat Napoleon!



    ***




    In March 2010 a gameplay overhaul, Europe in Conflict was released. It's one of the first big mods for Napoleon: Total War. It focuses on diversity between factions and creating a better gameplay, which is historically correct as possible. On 7th June 2010 a faction research thread was opened where researched information was stored for all playable factions. Guides were made for each of them and all unique things pointed out, for example France's two artillery rosters, The Gribeauval system and System of The Year XI. The latter one being modern and the other one was the existing artillery. When Napoleon tried to implant the new system, all guns could not be gained immediately, so it was done steadily, like the player gets new artillery by time with tech research. Some unit type roles have been changed, in the result making them more worthwhile. For example, militia gives a bonus to put down unrest in a region and they even spawn in a city when it's besieged. Light infantry is able to survive without line infantry's support and are used to support the line infantry instead.




    The team for this mod has been together since November 2009 to make a Napoleonic mod for Empire: Total War entitled as Continents in Conflict: 1809 (CiC:1809). Later they made a decision to move to Napoleon: Total War and as we can see with this mod, it was a great decision.


    Campaign map in 1812.

    ***




    In 16th April 2010 another gameplay overhaul was released, Rights of Man. It puts its focus on changing the gameplay. Like other Rights of Man counterparts of ETW and STW2, it does a lot of small tweaks. A noticeable feature is the new Campaign of 1812. As you can already guess, it starts when Napoleon is marching to Moscow, where he suffered a huge disaster. Of course Rights of Man gives a chance to change that, or even repeat the history with one of the Coalition forces, especially to try out the new playable factions, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and the Ottoman Empire, which were included with their own unique missions and objectives.




    Other things such as morale, movement speed, naval battles, and AI haven't been left untouched either. The game is now more challenging with all these changes and making a bad decision, like building the wrong type of buildings can end up bad. Along the new campaign and the gameplay changes, this mod features over 200 new units for all playable factions! Allowing you to make multinational armies, but they all (including already existing units) take longer to be recruited.





    ***




    In May 2010 The Great War, a total conversion project was started. It aimed to bring a World War 1 feel to Napoleon and show that World War 1 can be portrayed on the Warscape engine. Europe is a powder keg which is about to explode between two hostile sides, Central Powers and Entente. All major factions partaking in this conflict were made playable. You can witness tens of thousands of units on a battlefield. Most of them sitting behind trenches, waiting for the enemy to strike and then gun them down with machine guns, but sitting idle isn't an option for either side, as deadly artillery is bombarding them daily, and in the later part of the war poisonous gas is invented as well. On the naval side cruisers and dreadnoughts are included. Usually used for raids and blockades to starve the targeted faction, but a hostile navy can be challenged to a battle, to either lift a blockade or totally destroy the targeted faction's chances of lifting it. Because of its uniqueness and huge changes, it has become the most popular and the biggest mod for Napoleon: Total War to date. The subforum of The Great War has reached over 900 threads with more than 37,000 posts. Maybe one day in the future, the Creative Assembly inspired from The Great War mod will make an official game based on World War 1. Perhaps we shall see that after another ten years in our 20th anniversary article.




    ***




    Another total conversion project, The Khartum and Zulu mod was released after a month. It focuses on the Zulu Wars of 1879 and the Sudan War of 1881-1885. A new campaign was made for the Sudan War. There you can choose to play as the British Empire, Bedouin, the Ottoman Empire, and the Mahdist. Most of the mods are based on the European campaign, but The Khartum and Zulu mod as a rare case offers us the campaign based on the Egyptian campaign map. It starts in February 1885 and ends in December 1895. Napoleonic theme was removed as much as it could be. Music, art and loading screens were replaced to fit the theme of this mod, while new units were added and others reskinned to fit as well. The Khartum and Zulu mod also includes 10 historically accurate maps, based on these conflicts, such as Zulu lakes, Rorke's and Isandwlana.




    To see some action and the new units you should see the trailer:
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



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    In the same month La montée de l'Empire, a Napoleon: Total War overhaul, was released, which aimed to increase historical accuracy and remove things which are not historically accurate. Napoleon: Total War itself includes technologies which were invented a little bit later or could have been invented at the time, La montée de l'Empire removed them all. It also added 1807 starting date and in both starting dates allowed to play with unplayable factions like Poland, Bavaria and Denmark-Norway. As the focus of La montée de l'Empire is historical accuracy, characters have not been left untouched either. In the result they were made to better represent their real counterparts.




    ***




    When 2010 was almost over, Napoleonic: Total War III was delivered to us in late December. If the number III rises questions then Napoleonic: Total War I and Napoleonic: Total War II are modifications for Medieval: Total War and Rome: Total War respectively. The third part focuses on multiplayer. The aim was to make it as historically accurate as possible and make other improvements as well. It allows all eighteen factions, which were partaking in the Napoleonic Wars to be played. Units for each of them were made unique, with their own pros and cons, but those who are superior to others cost more and after hard work balance was achieved. All multiplayer maps have been reworked, while more than twenty have been made from scratch. After playing this mod on multiplayer, you will certainly hesitate to go back to Vanilla.



    The new effects and melee mechanisms.
    ***


    The next December saw the release of DarthMod Napoleon. At first Darth Vader wasn't interested in modding Napoleon: Total War, as he wished it to be as moddable as earlier titles like Rome: Total War and Medieval II: Total War, but later as we can see, he changed his mind. This was great news for his fans, as some before Napoleon: Total War release considered it to be unplayable without it. Darth Vader and his team give almost everything what a player could expect. With forty regiments in armies with all of them having realistic size and improved graphics, along with realistic smoke, blood, and explosions. Like always, AI has been a top priority. CAI was made to act more realistically, retreat when needed, or attack when it has good possibility and defend when it's being invaded. BAI has been greatly improved as well. It makes stronger and smarter attacks against the player and offers a real challenge. Even new campaigns made by husserlTW where you can play with minors and change the history. Over 150 new land and naval units can be found in this mod as well. Most of the players can surely agree that it was worth to wait till end of 2011 to get a Darth mod for Napoleon: Total War.


    Written by: L-Burna.



    * * *



    Total War: Shogun 2




    Total War: Shogun 2, released on 15th March 2011, brings us back to the Feudal Japan of 16th century. It returns to the Total War series' roots. What could have been a better time to release it than the ten years anniversary of Total War games, beginning from the game which it is based on? Now we can compare how well the Total War games have progressed over these ten years. Every game has introduced new features and made improvements, which open up even more ideas for the future. Total War: Shogun 2 greatly improves battles, especially the sieges, which many have long awaited. Now there can be even five level forts and castles, giving the attacker a hard time to get through. Naval battles have been improved further as well, with coasts and islands in the battles included. While Empire Total War and Napoleon Total War left out general's speeches out of the game, in Total War: Shogun 2 they make a return with 100,000 possibilities based on location, character, etc.... Multiplayer has been improved even further, giving you an opportunity to make your own customizable avatar. And with it you can fight all over Japan with and against fellow Total War fans.



    Total War: Shogun 2 has seven downloadable content packs. The Ikko-Ikki Clan is the firs DLC, released on 26th May 2011. It adds Warrior Monk Clan, including new units and new skill trees for it, plus a new historical battle, Nagashima 1574. Sengoku Jidai Unit Pack is the next DLC, which was released on 28th July 2011. It adds a lot of new units, along with ten new elite units. In autumn 2011 Hattori Clan Pack came out. It featured Hattori Clan, as the title suggests. They have the most powerful ninjas and are skilled in guerrilla warfare. The Battle of Nagashino is a new historical scenario, where you can choose to play either as Oda and Tokugawa clans on one side, or choose Takeda clan and change the outcome of this battle! In 27th September 2011 Rise of the Samurai Campaign was released. It goes 400 years back in time to the Genpai War. It was a conflict between six clans of Taira, Minamoto, and Fujiwara families. At that time the first Shogunate was created and Samurais started to gain a lot of influence, which they held for many centuries. In addition, like the rest of the DLCs, it includes many new units related to this time setting. Soon after, Blood Pack followed on 30th November 2011. It included blood, gore and new animations like blood-splatter effect on camera. Next came Saints and Heros Unit Pack on 26th July 2012. It too featured many new units, such as Hanzo's Shadows, Gozen’s Hime Heroines, Katana Cavalry, and more! The latest DLC to be released was The Otomo Clan Pack, which came out on 30th November 2012. It includes Christian clan, new western units, and Christian monks who are more effective than the rest.






    A year after Total War: Shogun 2's release, the Creative Assembly released Fall of the Samurai, the only expansion for the game on 23rd March 2012. Unlike the Rise of the Samurai Campaign, this expansion brings us forward to 1864. Western influence has started to grow in the Japanese islands just like in the rest of the world. While most nations have fallen victims to Western imperialism, Japan tries to become one of the players itself and prove that anyone in the world can become as powerful as the westerners. So Japan starts to modernize and industrialize, but the problem is that not everyone supports this, because it threatens the traditional government, which has ruled for many centuries, as well as the unique Japanese culture. These events led to the Boshin War between six clans, Aizu, Nagaoka, and Jozai against Choshu, Satsuma, and Tosa. The former are supporters of the Shogunate, while the latter three are Imperial clans. As for new features, railway networks have been included, which you can build and use to move your units between regions, but be careful because they can also be sabotaged. Naval units now can bombard cities and units close to the shore, while land and naval battles can be fought on the same map. New units like the Gatling gun and Ironclad are included, opening a chance for a large scale 19th Century TW game in near future.
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    Additional Units Mod - Shogun or in short, AUM-SHO is a unit mod by Swiss Halberdier which had already been in preparation since 1st March 2011 for Total War: Shogun 2 demo, which is fourteen days before Total War: Shogun 2 actual release. In the coming days unit plans were already added, and new abilities made available for many units, like wedge formation for all generals. After Total War: Shogun 2's release, the mod saw much popularity, being the main unit mod, and loads of requests were made over the time. Swiss delivered what he could with the best of his abilities, and answered to every question. On 25th March 2011 the first Vanilla units were unlocked, meaning that they became available in custom battles. Unlocking of more units and even ships continued afterwards. Not too long after that, the first custom units were made on 6th April 2011. In total this mod features eleven custom units, while unlocking seven units and seven ships, not to mention a lot of stat and ability changes, which makes this mod so great.


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    Realm Divide Mod released on 20th March 2011 is a popular modification by Yarkis de Bodemloze. It simply changes the effects of the realm divide event, or in other words makes it more realistic. It gives an initial diplomatic relation hit penalty of -55 and reduces it by -4 points every turn. Later by popular requests, a version with a smaller penalty became available. In vanilla it gave -5 points every turn until it reached -200, making it almost impossible to conduct diplomacy with anyone. It's also compatible with Fall of the Samurai. This mod gained popularity especially after its release, mostly because many players saw the penalty given by the event too big. Some players have said that they are unable to even play the game without it.





    Uesugi Teppo Ashigaru.
    ***


    The Rights of Man 3's first version, entitled as Road to Kyoto was already released on 25th March 2011. TROM3's team already had experience in modding for Empire Total War and Napoleon Total War, so a logical decision was to go for the latest Total War game. According to the creator's words, the main goal of the mod was to make the game more interesting. Planned main features included slower battles, harder late game economy, improved CAI, new units with tech and traits and gameplay tweaks. By the time they all were achieved, with even more features added. A significant addition was the extension of the campaign to 1640, giving you extra time to achieve your objectives. But the greatest achievement is all the tweaks and loads of fixes done to the game, what no other mod can offer in such amount and quality. It indeed achieved what was intended, having made the game much more interesting.


    This mod also featured many submods focusing on various things. Alternative Clan Colours mod was the first one to be released on 7th August 2011. As you can see from its title, it offers new colors and banners for units, though models and texture remain unchanged. However, Compatible Retexture Project, which was the next release, had changed exactly that! Just after two days Unit Variety project saw the release on 18th August 2011. This mods focus is on unit details. Finally, colored unit cards came out after a month. It simply added improved new unit cards to the game. It's also compatible with Vanilla, so the player who only desires them doesn't need to download all of the mod. These submods were united on 21st August 2011 (They are still available separately). The purpose of this was to provide easier download so you don't have to download them all separately. As a bonus, it also came with a new music submod.


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    DarthMod: Shogun II was yet another great modification by Darth Vader and his skillful team, this time for the latest Total War release, Total War: Shogun 2. It was released on the same day as TROM3, and it didn’t take long until the mod was granted its own subforum in the hosted modifications on 19th May 2011. On the same day the old thread was locked. Over a bit more than two months later it had gained almost 400,000 views and more than 4,300 posts. After the subforums creation, it allowed many new threads to flood in and of course making the mod more popular than it already was. Like always for Darth, one of the biggest focuses has been AI, and of course he had done a great job with it. Battle and campaign AI act more realistically, almost like a human player would. If you think the battles were too easy then you will surely have to rethink after playing DarthMod: Shogun II. Illogical war declarations and invasions are surely a rare sight in this mod. Another thing what Darth Vader likes to do is remove or improve things, which are unrealistic or historically incorrect.


    Sadly Darth Vader made an announcement in Autumn 2012 that he's retiring from Total War modding, but first will release the final versions of his mods. By his own words his mods are finished and well balanced, to what most of the fans can agree on. While this is sad news for the modding community, we still have his great modifications and their legacy left. His contributions surely won't be forgotten and will continue to live on. Let's all wish him luck with his future. But maybe one day he will decide to return.


    ***


    It seems like the 25th of March has been a big day for Total War: Shogun 2 modding, because yet another great mod, Shogun 2 Realism was released on this date. The aim of this mod was to create the game as historically correct as possible, while still keeping the Vanilla feel to it. Some players thought the battles were too short and action ends too fast. This mod took care of that and made the battles last much longer, simply achieving it by increasing morale, armor, and defense skills. In the result siege battles became an even bigger challenge for the attacker, while more maneuvering is involved and tactics have become more important in regular land battles. Units like samurais, cavalry, generals, and ashigaru are more powerful and more important in the battles. This is a perfect mod for players who seek improvements and small changes, but still want to have the feel of the original game.







    Bow Warrior Monks Cavalry.
    ***


    While we look at these great releases in March, Radious wasn't lacking behind at all and on 1st April 2011 released the biggest overhaul for Total War: Shogun 2 to date, Radious Total War. This mod is separated into fourteen packs, which all can be downloaded separately. They all were available from the first release till the middle of 2012, but of course they are continuously being updated till this day. April 1st saw the release of the first three packs, Limit and Upkeep mod, Food and Slots mod, and Units Mod. The former one greatly decreases unit upkeep by 40%-60%, all units can be recruited in one turn and elite units no longer have any limit. Much more action can be expected for this mod! While the Food and Slots mod reduces the food cost for castles and markets it also increases farm production, and income of some buildings. The Unit mod adds eleven completely new and three customized units, and unlocks eight land and four naval units already existing ones for all factions.


    In the next coming days, even more packs were released, such as Experience mod, Stats mod, AI mod, and Technology mod. While in summer and early 2012 followed packs like Recolour mod, Unit pack 1, Sound mod, and more, and again each one having its own focus, which can already be guessed by their titles.
    As the creator of this mod stated, the reason for it is that you can enhance anything you wish with this mod and want other things to remain as they are. For example if you only desire naval changes, then the Naval mod is just for you, which increases the morale of ships by 50%, improves the ship outlook and improves the naval AI. To date, it's the biggest naval overhaul, despite being part of one huge naval overhaul.


    ***


    A very recent breakthrough in the modding of Total War: Shogun 2 and whole Warscape engine was done by spartan warrior on 13th March 2013. He successfully added a new region to the campaign what has never been done before in all of these years. A mod which adds a new region is yet to be released, but you can surely see them in the future. As you can see, even now new things are discovered and made available for Warscape modding. We can only guess what will be achieved in the next ten years!


    The new region.




    Written by: L-Burna.



    * * *



    Haloband's custom art


    Carthage



    Roman Garrison



    Roman Soldiers



    Mobile versions

    Below there are mobile versions of the above three images. These images can be used on your Android or iOS device. To apply these on your Android device save them from your browser and then go to your menu -> settings -> lock screen to select the downloaded image. If you want to use these images on your iOS device save them to your camera roll by tapping and holding the image. Then go to your settings menu -> Brightness & Wallpaper -> press the lock and home screens -> Camera Roll and select the image you want to use.

    Carthage


    Roman Garrison


    Roman Soldiers



    Download the images here!


    ***

    Interview





    Last edited by Legio; May 01, 2013 at 05:27 PM.

  2. #2
    Vicarius
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    I was commanded to post here.

  3. #3
    Derpy Hooves's Avatar Bombs for Muffins
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    ​Great work everyone



  4. #4
    Diamat's Avatar VELUTI SI DEUS DARETUR
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Indeed, this is impressive work!

  5. #5

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    I agree, certainly better than The Star Wars Holiday Special!

  6. #6
    Genius of the Restoration's Avatar You beaut and magical
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    What a nice gesture!

    Just a note; I can't seem to get the interview to work.

  7. #7

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    :O I love Total War!

  8. #8
    Maniacal's Avatar Miles
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Congrats on the 10 years!
    There is absolutely no value to realism in the game whatsoever, and that's why aliens and lasers must be added immediately! Since aliens and lasers are fun, and realism is meaningless in a game, ETW must have aliens and lasers. - akd

  9. #9

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Yeah 10 Years! Yeah TW!

  10. #10
    Acco's Avatar Дијана
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Good overview of the Total War series, and what a series it has been!

    By the way, the interview with GED isn't loading for me.
    На Запад масивно сиви облаци
    Од Исток сонце и вистина излези
    Macedonia

  11. #11

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    im in

  12. #12

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Word on the street was that I should post here

  13. #13

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE



    by the way, here is the video (I think) in case no one fixes the OP video for awhile



    Am I allowed to win both lotteries ?
    Last edited by complete noob:(; April 28, 2013 at 08:20 PM.

  14. #14
    Sharpe's Avatar Praeses
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    GED talks a lot of sense.

    I want to be interviewed one day haha.

  15. #15

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    In for the win. Now will someone tell me what this "Total War" game is that people keep talking about?

  16. #16
    Dan the Man's Avatar S A M U R A I F O O L
    Content Emeritus

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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Oh yeah, so in this!
    Proudly under the patronage of The Holy Pilgrim, the holiest of pilgrims.


  17. #17

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Great games one and all! Here's to ten more years of smashing enemy armies under the pressure of a finger on a mouse!

  18. #18
    Den Stark's Avatar Tiro
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Good overview Thanks

  19. #19

    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Amazing memories and games!

  20. #20
    Leaf-Fan-Forever's Avatar Miles
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    Default Re: TWC 10 Year Anniversary Special - PRIZES INSIDE

    Sweet. Here's hoping for luck!

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