The Campaigns Addon (for LotRTW v3.0+)

[CapnDan]

Nope, i thank you for your excellent work . Some questions:

1) Which faction do you like to play most?

2) Recruiting units as Gondor (and some others) takes 2 or 3 turns. Doesn't that makes them too vulnerable?

3) Which difficulty level do you like most?

4) The Fellbeasts are not so powerful now, are they?

Happy to Answer Questions!

1. Through the course of beta testing my work I've played at least a basic/quick campaign with pretty well every faction and honestly find them all to be interesting. The work of the original mod devs was very good and in fairly exacting detail, every faction tends to have their own character, advantages, and disadvantages. The three new provincial campaigns in the Campaigns Addon are also set up to let you play as most of the factions. So... I guess short answer, I love all my factions, but more specifically, if you're going to try out the "Return of Numenor" Provincial Campaign, I'd say definitely try Numenor (even if their faction/campaign description isn't showing up correctly...).

2. Unit recruitment over 2+ turns is actually a feature in the main LotR-TW mod that is continued and expanded on in this addon. It actually has several effects all of which are fairly important. For example, it makes your armies feel much more like limited resources and therefore requires a bit more actual strategic thinking (and better tactical thinking in battle) and it helps with balancing out the factions on a macro-strategic sort of level and controls, to an extent, which units the AI will prioritize building.

As to being too vulnerable, Gondor (and most other factions since the Addon for that matter) will almost never be fully conquered, even despite massive scripted Mordor armies in the "War of the Ring" Campaign, and that's just AI vs. AI.

3. All the testing was done on M/M but you can certainly feel free to ramp up the difficulty depending on your own affinity for punishment. Like the readme says, with the reblancing in the Campaigns Addon, most campaigns are easy to lose, or at least should provide a bit of a challenge even on M/M.

4. Fellbeasts are about as powerful as ever I think, but I had changed the code to make them slightly less common. Basically the Witchking is the only unit ever to regularly spawn mounted on a fellbeast (not to say that other Nazgul won't have them on occasion, but not as frequently as before). But, like almost every other unit in the game, even fellbeasts bearing a powerful undead mage king, still have certain weaknesses.

[Greece]

Is there any way to recruit numenorean units in other cities except in Fornost ?

[CapnDan]

Is there any way to recruit numenorean units in other cities except in Fornost ?

Nope, Numenorean army units can only be recruited in Fornost. But they are very strong and very durable - the idea is that they should be a very rare and valuable resource indeed. It's a similar idea to the new general units for numenor. They are very strong, very durable, but small in number which is their key vulnerability and which requires perhaps a bit more thought or longer-term planning in terms of their use. Part of the plan is that this introduces a new level of strategic decision-making into the campaign as even a severely depleted company of numenorean swordsmen (for example), especially once experienced and upgraded, can be the deciding factor in turning a large battle to your favor. So, do you keep them with your forward armies and risk depleting them further (or losing them altogether?!), or do you send them on the long trip home to be brought back up to full strength?

Side note: As you expand you'll find that the Numenorean faction also has support of both elves and dwarves where those populations exist (and access to other very strong units if you can uncover an abandoned barracks or forge of theirs).

[Greece]

Thanks for the answer,

and is there any way to make them available in other 2 cities on the start, but not in other cities which I conquer.
And why I can't recruit high noldor units when I build foundry of mawe ina "Age of men" and "Return of Numenor" ?

[CapnDan]

is there any way to make them available in other 2 cities on the start, but not in other cities which I conquer.
And why I can't recruit high noldor units when I build foundry of mawe ina "Age of men" and "Return of Numenor" ?

Yes, numenor units could be made buildable at other settlements, all you'd have to do is add the hidden resource "sparta" to the other regions where you'd like them to be buildable in the descr_regions.txt file which can be found in the custom campaign folder for returnofnumenor (...lotrtw\data\world\maps\campaign\custom\returnofnumenor ). Then delete your map.rwm file in that folder and start a new campaign and you should be good to go.

The noldor faction (and noldor faction only) should be able to recruit high noldor units in all the campaigns, but it requires building the highest level forges in all three settlements on the coast (Grey Havens, Forlond, and Harlond I think they are). Also it requires a scripted event so you'll have to have all those built and then wait a few turns until the event activates itself.

[jrhindo]

Coming back to old mods i liked, happy to see this modmod was kept and super expanded. Gonna try it out

[Nerazim]

CapnDan, can you make bowstrings? It would make the mod better, been waiting years . Wlesmana is the one who made tutorials about bowstrings but I just can't understand because I am not a modder.

Also, Age of Men should include Numenor because Aragorn rebuilted Arnor.

[CapnDan]

CapnDan, can you make bowstrings? It would make the mod better, been waiting years . Wlesmana is the one who made tutorials about bowstrings but I just can't understand because I am not a modder.

Also, Age of Men should include Numenor because Aragorn rebuilted Arnor.

Bowstrings: The mod does have bowstrings, they're just not animated bowstrings!

-I'm not exactly sure why they were never included but I'd guess there's a good reason. As far as I understand it they would possibly be quite a bit of work for not much result (which may in fact be the reason in of itself). I also have little experience with doing skeletons and models so really and truly I'd have no special advantage over you in trying to implement these. Why don't you just give it a try Nerazim?!

As for the Age of Men campaign, if you want it to include a reforged Arnor, then it totally does! That campaign is set basically right after the Return of the King, if you want Arnor, play as Gondor and go get it! The campaign is actually set up this way for you!

[Nerazim]

I can try about it but not now.


I don't understand. In moddb, Wlesmana made a video about The Rangers(or Master Rangers) with uniqye animations(with bowstring). Why would they not release animated bowstrings?! They showed us but they didn't released it?! I really don't understand.

[CapnDan]

I don't understand. In moddb, Wlesmana made a video about The Rangers(or Master Rangers) with uniqye animations(with bowstring). Why would they not release animated bowstrings?! They showed us but they didn't released it?! I really don't understand.

There were actually a couple of things like that that went on between LotR-TW 2.x and 3.x - I could probably hazard a few guesses as to reasons why but probably just as useful to leave it as being the ongoing mysteries of the modding universe.

[Halvar von Flake]

Hey CapnDan, I think I am going to have some spare time left to start the Numenor campaign during the next days! Looking awesome! I really like the choice of Militia units for Numenor! Nice you left Gimli and Legolas alive seriously injured south of Mirkwood! Unfortunately, Eowyn didn't make it! Her injuries were too deadly, weren't they?! I hope she will return seriously injured horseback in V2.8 to evoke some jeanne d'arc effects! By the way, did you make any changes in the ancilliaries.texts from V2.2 to V2.6? I have changed a couple of things in V2.2 and I am wondering if I can copy my V2.2 ancillaries.texts into V2.6...hmm.
Moreover, I am really interested in your Numenor faction description. Can you post it in this thread?!? That would be nice! Thanks a lot for V2.6 again!!!

[CapnDan]

Hey Halvar:
Hope you enjoy the campaign! I've recently started my first 'just for fun' playthrough and that after having been away for long enough that I'd forgotten about some of the little easter eggs strewn throughout the campaign which has made for some pretty fun surprises.

I've also just recently (and because of the playthrough) done a couple of more pretty minor tweaks and some to the unit stats so I've attached the current EDU I'm using in case you'd like to use it too. Small changes mostly to help make the militia units for Numenor a little more useful. I'm finding the campaign to be quite unique and really good so far, I'll be interested to know what you think.

For Eowyn I'd actually kind of figured she'd be chilling with Faramir in Gondor. Honestly I'd only put a minute's thought into it one time, removed her character and never looked back. Now that you bring it up I'm thinking it might be interesting maybe to add her back in with a small bodyguard in Gondor. Well, next version maybe.

Ancillaries, were edited slightly in getting to 2.6 - so real answer is: I'm not really sure and there is a chance using modified 2.2 Ancs may lead to unforseen bugs or instability. But, no bugs that I can think of off the top of my head, so... maybe. What kind of changes did you make?

Aand the Numenor Campaign description. Vexing that I can't figure out why it's not displaying correctly. Anyway, pasted below:

Reformed Kingdom of Numenor
The desperate gambit by Elessar, returned King of Gondor, to assault the Black Gates and give the Ringbearer time enough to complete his mission, has failed. The united force of Gondor and Rohan was encircled and annihilated almost to the last while the King, badly wounded and barely conscious, was carried from the battle by a small body of Dunedain who had hidden themselves among the army.

From the very beginning there had been doubts among the Dunedain regarding the Fellowship more generally and the chances of a lone hobbit succeeding where the entire might of ancient Numenor had failed. A Council of Rangers was assembled and a decision reached that, with ultimate defeat now fast approaching, a final rally around the ancient banner of Numenor would be the last best hope for Middle-Earth.

Difficulty: DIFFICULT
The Numenorean faction can draw on a wide range of very strong units representing the many different peoples of Middle-Earth. However, finding and convincing members of those various factions to join forces with this unproven army is costly in both time and treasure. The Numenorean faction faces an uphill battle and a race against time as Sauron will only become stronger and stronger until his defeat really is impossible.

[Halvar von Flake]

Looking forward to finding some of the easter eggs! I found one in Carn Dum and I bet you were thinking about Carn Dum as a starting position for Mordor but you decided to make it rebel faction for balancing reasons...

Thanks for EDU! I am going to test it on another occasion as I always play on VH/VH half unit upkeep and I have changed it already...

Well, I think I will switch to V2.6 ancillaries then...I had only little changes for Vilya, Nenya, Anduril, Ring of Barahir and some other items.

In the case of Eowyn you forgot that no chilling is possible as the one ring was not destroyed! Theoden told her to lead the Rohirrim after his death. And Eowyn would not go and chill with Faramir in Gondor when her peoples are in danger. She should be faction leader horseback in the new scenario and Eomer heir if you asked me.

And a question...are rangers of the north recruitable for Numenor faction or will they be available by 5% random chance in Nenuial and Fornost?

[CapnDan]

Looking forward to finding some of the easter eggs! I found one in Carn Dum and I bet you were thinking about Carn Dum as a starting position for Mordor but you decided to make it rebel faction for balancing reasons...

Yup. There's even a little bit of a story there too if you spy on and investigate the general there.

In the case of Eowyn you forgot that no chilling is possible as the one ring was not destroyed! Theoden told her to lead the Rohirrim after his death. And Eowyn would not go and chill with Faramir in Gondor when her peoples are in danger. She should be faction leader horseback in the new scenario and Eomer heir if you asked me.

Well perhaps instead of 'chill' I ought to have said 'decided to stay and fight to the last, or whatever may come, with Faramir, now Steward of Gondor, ally of her people, and sexy time love of her life' After all, her finding a partner is kind of major part of the plot of both books and the films and we all know how good she is at following the directions of Theoden (stay behind, lead the people, ect)


As for Rangers of the North - one of the starting generals has the sole available unit of rangers. In this mod/story all the available dunedain are taking up the arms and banner of ancient numenor and so they would form companies of numenor archers rather than dunedain rangers.

[Halvar von Flake]

My spies have visited Carn Dum already...!!! Unfortunately, orc rabbles took the city very quickly now invading Arthedain from the north, south and west! Although your explanation is very lore like some special forces by 5%chance (rangers) would be quite useful in this emergency situation...!!!


"One minor bug I know of - when choosing the Numenor faction campaign no description shows up for some reason, this problem has been rather vexing for me so if anyone knows what up and how to fix it I'd love to know the answer."

-> Idea: Maybe there is a correlation between the description not showing and no marked area showing for Numenor on the strat map...?!?

some more Suggestions:
- the old stone fortress of Fornost rebuildable or right from the beginning (one of the gondorian city models)
- Nenuial renamed Annuminas
- Frodo and Sam still alive somewhere on the map

[CapnDan]

-> Idea: Maybe there is a correlation between the description not showing and no marked area showing for Numenor on the strat map...?!?

some more Suggestions:
- the old stone fortress of Fornost rebuildable or right from the beginning (one of the gondorian city models)
- Nenuial renamed Annuminas
- Frodo and Sam still alive somewhere on the map

Good thoughts, thanks.
Frodo and Sam I think need to be gone, it's kind of a critical part of the new story.
Don't think I'll rename any of the settlements just for simplicity and can't see any good gameplay reason to want to to that. I have added in the ability to build stone walls at a few more Numenor settlements in the currently unreleased next version though.

The lack of a visual area for numenor in the campaign selection screen is just because I copied over the stock map file without coloring in an area.. I guess I could update that too next version..

[Halvar von Flake]

Ah, nice the walls are going to come!!
And what about Gandalf the White? He could have made with Aragorn to the north...to complete his mission!

Some more thinking:
- I had the idea that there a "new" Numenoreans coming over the sea to support Elessar like the return of the noldor (as there are lore like to few Dunedain rangers left to send a large army into field). The "new" Numenoreans could sail up the Baranduin river from south west to lake Nenuial where they would be recruitable. So rangers of the north recruitable in Fornost and new Numenoreans in Nenuial.
- And it would be worth a try for the free peoples campaign to make the Numenoreans available in Nenuial by 5%chance random unit. That would be great either!!!

[Nerazim]

CapnDan, can you make new models? The Silvan Elves from the Battle of the five armies extended edition were cool. Its really absurd that the team made the Silvan Elves savage.

The Galadhrim and the Silvan Spearmen do not use shields which is really boring to look at. Although many think using shields will hinder their movements it just don't matter because they're elves and they need more defense to survive.

[CapnDan]

CapnDan, can you make new models? The Silvan Elves from the Battle of the five armies extended edition were cool. Its really absurd that the team made the Silvan Elves savage.

The Galadhrim and the Silvan Spearmen do not use shields which is really boring to look at. Although many think using shields will hinder their movements it just don't matter because they're elves and they need more defense to survive.

I'm afraid that I have neither the technical nor the artistic skills required to make new unit models and textures. What do you mean when you say the elves are savage?

[Nerazim]

What I mean is that the Silvan Elves look primitive. Altough I think the lotrtw team visualize that they look like primitive elves but it just doesn't fit. I find the movie silvan elves more civilized than in the mod.