A LotRTW Mod Mod
A way to bring the otherwise unused (in the campaign) faction of Numenor into a campaign game, maybe while introducing an interesting new campaign mechanic?
I'd thought about doing something like this a while ago but I don't really have the time to go about putting it together.
What I figured was a sort of alternate history of the War or the Ring where Aragorn's big gamble at the end of The Return of the King fails. Frodo and Sam never make it to Mt. Doom, Gollum disappears with the Ring and Aragorn's army at the Black Gate is largely annihilated.
The Numenorian faction could be introduced as a coalition of the various descendents, rangers, and their allies who had been hiding away in the Northlands with a sizeable armoury made up mostly of ancient family heirlooms still in relatively good condition due both to the care with which they had been kept and the fine quality of initial manufacture. After hearing of the break-up of the fellowship and the desperate fights at Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, a Council of Rangers was assembled and they decided that, should the Fellowship fail, the last hope for Middle Earth would be the rebuilding of a Numenorian army.
Factions:
Numenor: Led by Aragorn, injured at the battle of the Black Gates but secreted away by a small group of rangers hidden among his troops. Numenor starts far in the North with only 2-3 (former free peoples) settlements with Aragorn as the only family member. The Numenor faction can only recruit small and basic militia units at settlements and otherwise relies on (relatively few) scripted events to gain powerful elven and numenorian units.
I thought this would be an interesting mechanic to introduce. The Numenor faction would be almost over-powered on an individual unit vs. unit basis but the #s of soldiers in the main armies would almost always be shrinking and cannot be replaced.
Gondor: Led by Faramir, the faction is under siege on both East and West right from the campaign start and facing severely depleted troop strength after the initial battles with Mordor (I'm thinking reduce the average # of soldiers in Gondor units but give them a bonus +1 vetrancy and maybe eliminate the elite units altogether). Gondor at this point can realistically do little more than mount a desperate defence of her existing borders.
Rohan: Edoras, left largely undefended fell almost without a fight. Rohan's forces were also severely depleted by the recent battles against Saruman and at Plennor. While Saruman was defeated (and his citadel now walled off and guarded by the Ents), the Dunlendings have absorbed the remainders of Sarumans armies and, left relatively unscathed by recent battles, have pressed their advantage. The new king Eomer has only limited forces at his disposal and only a few small settlements under his control along the mountains stretching East from Helm's Deep.
Dunlendings: In a strong position controlling a large area in the West. Forces bolstered by absorbing the remainders of Saruman's armies and can now build orc pits and train basic (low-tech) orcish units (and wargs?).
Elves: No change really from the stock mod.
Dwarves: Eastern holdings expanded slightly from original mod but remove their Western mountain (give to the rebels) it causes too many Alliance breaking problems.
Dale: Stable but tenuous hold on core regions, Easterlings are at the gates
Easterlings: Poised and ready to assault the Dwarves and Dale.
Misty Mountain Orcs: No changes really
Mordor: In a strong position, core settlements well built up, ultimate victory seems pretty well assured. Connected to Dol-Guldur but blocked (by Easterling settlements) from engaging Dale at least until Greenwood and Lorien Elves have been conquered. This to help the AI focus on going West and North.
Southrons: Decimated by losses at Plennor, many of their great chieftains and Mumaks slain. Starts off in a fractured state. Umbar and many other settlements have split off and given over to the rebels. Mumaks not buildable anymore, have them only available to 1 or 2 starting generals. Challenge playing as the Southrons would mainly be to reunite the empire by defeating the sizeable rebel forces at most surrounding settlements while having very little economy to back your campaigns.
Free Peoples: Reduced to Bree and the Hobbit lands. The rest either join Numenor faction or given over to the rebels. After learning what fates befell the hobbits of the Fellowship, the Free Peoples faction is more determined than ever to have nothing to do with whatever war is being fought.
Edit: It's done!!
Find the Campaigns Addon for the Lord of the Rings Total War (LotR-TW - RTW - Alex based) mod here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...gns-Addon-V2-6
Reply With Quote
Perhaps you could develope it as a submod for one of those LOTR mods out there? It would save you lots of time if you would tweak an existing mod to make fit better for the alternative campaign instead of creating everything from scratch.
Originally Posted by Halvar von Flake
