Strategos - A Realistic Representation of Ancient Warfare
Strategos - A Realistic Representation of Ancient Warfare
Strategos is an overhaul modification that’s designed for multiplayer custom battles, with a wargamer-esque approach to battle mechanics. Stressing importance of tactics and strategy, the ultimate goal of this mod is to create a realistic experience that makes you think like a contemporary general; thinking on the grand tactical level of the battlefield, rather than vanilla’s (and practically every other mod’s) micro tactical level. There’s no current plans for a functioning campaign, the only focus of this mod is MP custom battles (so there’ll be no compromise for AI behavior, either). I wanted to create this mod because no others offer this kind of experience.
This mod’s primary goal is to overhaul the battle mechanics, placing more emphasis on the grand tactical level of the battlefield (focusing on unit formations as a whole, training levels, discipline, maneuver capabilities, tactics, strategy, etc.), rather than the small tactical style of vanilla (which focuses on specific equipment, damage, armour, etc. to represent a unit’s "strength"). Battle mechanics are an extremely difficult thing to overhaul; everything like casualties, formation, mass, movement, missile physics, fatigue, morale, cohesion and the realistic representation of different types of units are all aspects that need to be detailed. Emphasis has been placed on the significance of morale, battlefield tactics and strategy, and that every soldier on the field is just a man (no more sub-super humans). Turning your warriors into humans with thought, fear, and reaction to the battlefield’s situations is the main goal for representing morale, rather than having fight-to-the-death robots like in vanilla.
Second on my agenda is unit rosters, aesthetics, and the mod’s general setting and atmosphere: the mod will be set in the Hellenic Korinthian and Boiotian Wars, during the period of Spartan Hegemony (first quarter of the 4th C BCE), during the pinacle of hoplitic warfare. The initial release featuring Λακεδαίμων (Lakedaimon / Sparta) and Θῆβαι (Thebes / Boiotia) as the two main factions. More factions and time periods (eg. Samnite Wars, Punic Wars) will follow in future versions, but the initial release will be mainly for testing the battle mechanics, while also having enough of the aesthetics completed to get an enjoyable and immersive experience.
I plan to represent ancient armed forces very differently to vanilla, and perhaps even more differently to all the other big mods. Most try to create realism by stretching out all the rosters, and "milking" every reference they can find to create a unit with the tiniest difference to another, which I think removes each unit's individual value. Good examples are "Celtic Axemen", then also having "Celtic Spearmen", "Celtic Swordsmen", "Slightly Armoured Celtic Swordsmen", "Slightly More Armoured Celtic Swordsmen", etc. (i.e. "X" level of warrior, with "X" weapon). I find this totally unrealistic, and this mod’s unit rosters will focus on division by social differences, their culture, their nationality, their native fighting style, what drove these individuals to fight, the techniques they employed, their individual roles on the battlefield, and if the differences are tactically worth a totally separate unit; not so much the weapons they wielded or the armour they donned (like some other mods use to distinguish their units). Every unit will feel like it has a distinct role in your army.
Hope you liked my concept. I tried to keep it short for now. Dev Blogs will follow with more details on how I’ve chosen to represent and implement different aspects of the mod. I know that this won't be for everyone, but the people that this mod is designed for, will love it (like me). If you did like it, please show your support and leave a comment.
Recruiting
- UI Art anyone that can do some little UI things for me, like faction icons
Credits
- Mitch and Daniu for creating the PFM
Reply With Quote
