[UPD 27 FEB 16] Preview: Dale

[MOS-Lukas-Dwarf]

Honestly everything you've done so far has been exceptional, I wasnt even aware about how much was complete till i saw the "Dale" article and it blew my mind... The bow is also so impressive! Are you considering making the Ballista seen in the Hobbit? The wind-lance or something? Look forward to future updates

[Enpremi]

Hmm, warfare units. Didn't think of that so far, but sure there will some and it would be only stupid not to use the concept of wind-lance.

[MOS-Lukas-Dwarf]

Ooh exciting! Siege units were mostly ignored in third age and i know this mod aims to be different... Siege custom units would look so good and only improve immersion... of course its added work though, so cool to speak to another modeller on the team! There are some great things in Wetas art collections, ofc you know this already but siege units actually are my wierd obsession... and banners ahah

[Lothar135]

Just saw the Dale Captain models on Mod DB, ing great work guys they're outstanding quality and will bring a new love for the Dale faction that hasn't been so popular before!

I agree, looks impressive.
btw. In TATW the Dale faction is imho one of the best looking. Just saying

[Key-low]

So what are going to be the strength/weaknesses of Dale? I'm imagining strong bow units, mediocre mounted troops, and more defense oriented infantry...

[Mr.Jox]

Balancing will come later

[Key-low]

Don't y'all have at least some concept first? You know, so you know how to flesh out a roster with more pike units for one faction vice another?

[Lothar135]

Key-low, they have a lot of work to do. Balancing is quite a minor issue when compared to other things those great modders do...

Lorewise there is not much known about how the Dale army should look like. Bard was a great archer, so we can probably expect good archers like in TATW. Dale is quite a small country and poor, so we can probably not expect heavy infantry or cavalry - at least not a lot of those.

[Key-low]

Fair points. I understand balancing is the tweaking of some statistics. I'd just like to know the plan. If I were putting in all this work (which I most definitively appreciate) I'd certainly want to have an idea where I would want to take each faction during this phase. I would have assumed you wouldn't want design a lot of heavily armored looking units if you intended to create a faction that specializes in light infantry. I really liked dale in TATW (I know not to compare the 2) so I figured I'd ask what to expect this time around for my favorite faction.

[Enpremi]

Our biggest priority is to get stuff into the game. Mostly based on the movies and weta concepts. We already have unit rosters , but it's mostly about distribution and not balancing. Really, that's almost our latest goal...

[Mr.Jox]

Balancing will come later not because its not priority now but because it much better to balance units when you have all planned units completed.
About Bard, I think it's incorrect option to make Dalian Archers good shooters because Bard was good one. I believe good shooting was kinda his personal ability, like Legolas in lotr films.
At some while in lotr books I've read dale wasn't that poor:
1. Their borders were from Erebor and Mirkwood to somewhere around sea of Rhun(north of Rhovanion?).
2. They have powerful and rich ally in face of Erebor.
3. They probably have similar parents with Rohan. So some cavalry should be okay.

As you can see these are only thoughts.

[cshewey]

Uhh yeah, lore-wose the city of dale was incredibly rich, laketown in the hobbit was showing the poverty that smaug had caused, but now with their allies in the mountain back, and Dale rebuilt, they will be rolling in the dough from trade. Books say something about "a large company of spearmen and bowmen came with him" about the army from laketown so Dale army will be based mainly on those 2. Laketown units will be poorer, but not peasnts but Dale units will be professional and well armed.

[Alkar]

Uhh yeah, lore-wose the city of dale was incredibly rich, laketown in the hobbit was showing the poverty that smaug had caused, but now with their allies in the mountain back, and Dale rebuilt, they will be rolling in the dough from trade. Books say something about "a large company of spearmen and bowmen came with him" about the army from laketown so Dale army will be based mainly on those 2. Laketown units will be poorer, but not peasnts but Dale units will be professional and well armed.

All the armies of Middle-earth were 75% spearmen and bowmen.

[Key-low]

I guess I was just asking if there was a faction roster in the works for dale haha.. Glad I can spur on some debate haha

[Mr.Jox]

We have roster concepts for almost all factions

[Alkar]

I guess I was just asking if there was a faction roster in the works for dale haha.. Glad I can spur on some debate haha

Hehe lol. Here is a drawing of a Knight fighting a Dragon by J.R.R. Tolkien:



You can see his equipment of a shirt of mail, a shield, a helm, and a spear (this also matches all of his descriptions in the Lord of the Rings and other works). Personally though I like to think of Middle-earth more in the Medieval-like sense with higher tech, it makes it more fun (I'm sure everybody else does too).

[Mr.Jox]

CHOSEN MARKSMEN

[Black Watch 1745]

Wow. You modders truly are Gods! I cannot wait for this to come out.

[♔atthias♔]

CHOSEN MARKSMEN

great work but for wich faction

[Alkar]

CHOSEN MARKSMEN

Unbelievably high quality!