RTR8 Beta v4.0 Daily Countdown! DOCUMENTATION

**ahowl11** · April 22, 2018, 01:54 AM

Hello RTW and RTR fans! I am ahowl11, the creator and leader of the Rome Total Realism Project and RTR8. For the next eight days up until release I will present a daily countdown detailing some new features that you will see in our 4.0 beta compared to what was seen in 3.0.

Day 1, April 21st -

UNITS -
Ah yes, units. Everyone's favorite part about mods. Some of the most popular mods have the best looking units. RS2 had so many unit previews before release, and RTRVII has had some of the most quality units that I have ever seen! R2 mods have added so many units that I wonder if they will ever run out of Ideas (Tarentine Thorakitai anyone?). But this is what attracts people. Screen shots of units. When I was younger, it attracted me too. So let's talk about the units that you will find in RTR8!

Vanilla, but realistic

I am a sucker for vanilla and it's mods, I won't lie. I got vanilla Rome Total War when I was 10 years old and played it every day, and didn't really get into mods or actual realistic history until I was in high school. My first modding project was actually a mod based on vanilla, and I have released my small Mundus Magnus series. With that being said, I cannot allow bright uniform colors to be allowed into a Rome Total Realism mod, but I have always enjoyed one thing about vanilla skins, and that is their faces. There is almost a correct way to make unit's look, and an incorrect way, and I will explain. Mind you, this is all personal opinion.
There are mods and modders out there who have made some pretty substantial units but I consider myself a master in unit searching and research. I have just about every mod, submod, modpack, and single unit file that has ever been released in the public (some have not been released!) and I know what fits my style, and what will translate best into RTR8, and that is the RTRPE unit style. It's all in the faces for me, and it can go a long way.. mods like Rs2, Res Gestae, and CATW all have wonderful models, but they use custom skin and face textures, which really turn me off for some reason, so I have decided to keep a more classic and nostalgic look for RTR8.

The mod, Rome Total Realism Gold and later, Platinum has some of the best looking units in my opinion because they worked with vanilla models, but retextured them to look more realistic. This mod is still played today and remains my all-time favorite. The work they did was simple, but beautiful. After pouring over this forum, other forums and download sites, and also messaging a ton of people I had built a collection of units that would fit well together, especially with having RTRPE units. So in RTR8, here is the special blend of units that you will see!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

To see some of these units in action, please check out this thread here! We will be posting more screens throughout the week!
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-v4-Sneak-Peek

As you can see we have a long list of contributors to our units, but how will our units operate and how will they be recruited? Stay tuned until tomorrow when I explain Recruitment, AoR, Mercenaries and Rebels!

**ahowl11** · April 23, 2018, 02:01 AM

Day 2 of my daily updates will focus on:

RECRUITMENT

There are many forms of recruitment in mods.. there is the vanilla where you have barracks, range and stables, or you can go with RTRPE and have the auxilia phase buildings that lead up into barracks. EB uses a script to determine many functions with it's barracks, and you have choices..
Since this is a beta, our barracks and recruitment system is not quite set in stone.. We still have many internal discussions to determine what exactly we will wind up with when this mod is completely finished.. but for now we have a pretty complex system that centers around each factional culture, as well as a special building for the rebels only!

ExRM has been our base of operations when it comes to internal game mechanics. I really love the way Quinn and his friends have developed that mod to be as challenging and in-depth as possible. Here at RTR8 we wanted to take it to the next level, but it has come with some difficulty and we are not finished. What you will see in Beta 4.0 is a bit complex but also simple.

There are 12 different barracks, and each barracks has an AoR path or a factional path. Each path simulates the Government that you would want to put into place. For example, if you are Rome, and you conquer Bononia, you can either build up the factional barracks to get your Roman units, which will take an immensely long time, OR you can build an AoR barracks and recruit some Gallic Auxiliaries for your army. Here's the thing though.. Rome never really employed foreign troops early in it's days.. only light archers, skirmishers and cavalry. So the pickings will be slim. However depending on the region, you might want to get some of these units quick, or else your legions won't have support (cough Numidia, cough).

Now here's the twist. That's just for Rome.. Let's say you are Carthage and you take Bononia.. Again you can go factional and colonize the land, making it Punic and allowing you to train Liby-Phoenician colonist units.. OR since you are Carthage and you maintain great relations with local tribes, you can go the AoR route and recruit from the entire land.. whether it be light troops, line troops, or even Nobles being employed. However it will come at a cost, as you will not be able to generate much revenue from these lands. So choose wisely where you will establish AoR and Factional barracks.

Another wrinkle, if you are playing as Gaul and you conquer a rebel Gallic region. Establishing an AoR barracks wouldn't make sense, and because of that you will get ZERO units available to recruit. Instead special Gallic AoR units have been incorporated into the Gallic Factional Barracks, to simulate the rise of a potential Gallic confederation. So let's say you conquer those pesky Aquitani after having a tough time against their Solduri devotio warriors.. the great news is as you develop your factional barracks, the Aquitani will swear allegiance to you and offer their Solduri to your services as the Aquitani become part of the one whole Gallic Nation. This feature is applied to all factions who start off tribal and have a common culture surrounding them. Civilized factions will not have this feature except for Rome, so she can employ her Italian neighbors.

For civilized factions (Carthage, Diadochi, and Greeks) they have their own little wrinkle. Many mercenaries were used in this timeframe, but some factions had cities where mercenaries gathered to be hired for almost normal useage. These cities like Carthage, Alexandria and Antioch were hubs for mercenaries and their owners recruited them all the time to serve in their armies.. RTW mechanics simulate mercenaries as field troops hired as the army is on the move, but we have gone a step further and incorporated specific mercenary units to be available for normal recruitment in specific cities. For example, Carthage once it has a fully upgraded factional barracks will be able to recruit Ligurians, Gauls, Iberians, Oscans and Greeks from their capital. This will simulate the many diverse nations that she used. The Greeks will be able to recruit and retrain Thracians or Scythians depending on what city is being used.. or how about an Illyrian Cavalry contingent being used by Bactria from Bactra itself? (Ask our historian Mausolos about that one!)

The final feature focuses on the Rebels faction. Known as 'Independent Nations' in our mod, the rebels are represented as much more than brigands and easy targets. We have developed a feature to where the rebels can effectively recruit any unit they want (restricted by AoR of course) so if Sparta rebels against Macedon and it's owned by Rebels, do not be surprised if they start pumping out some Spartan units! This barracks will be known as the Native Recruitment Center, and the player will NEVER be able to use it. The building will always be 'destroyed' when owned by a faction. Don't bother repairing it, as the script will destroy it again, and again. Due to RTW engine limitations this was the only way for us to make the rebel faction recruit independently regardless of culture or barracks the city had.. So now, we can allow the Rebels to recruit units that no other faction can recruit, such as Mamertines and Judean Zealots!

As you can see our barracks will be very fun to play with and use. However this is still a beta, and this barracks isn't set in stone completely yet. If any of you find any issues, bugs, or mishaps, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Here is the list of barracks:

1) Roman
2) Greek
3) Diadochi (Antigonid, Seleucid, Ptolemaic, Bactrian)
4) Parthian
5) Eastern (Pontic, Armenian)
6) Celtic (Gallic, Galatian)
7) Germanic
8) Celtiberian
9) Balkan (Thrace, Illyria)
10) Nomadic (Sarmatian, Saka)
11) Numidian
12) Nabataean
Bonus) Native - Rebels ONLY

Here are the factions who have the advantage of recruiting tribal/regional units into their factional barracks:
-Rome
-Gauls
-Galatians
-Germans
-Celtiberians
-Illyrians
-Thracians
-Sarmatians
-Saka
-Nabataeans
-Numidians
-Parthia
-Hellenic Cities

Here are the factions who have the advantage of recruiting mercenary units in specific home cities:
-Hellenic Cities
-Seleucids
-Carthage
-Ptolemies
-Antigonids
-Bactria

You'll have to find out which regions allow this on your own time!

Thank you for reading, and tomorrow, I will discuss the faction list and why we chose what we chose, and how they all mold together into our 270BC campaign start!

**ahowl11** · April 24, 2018, 02:50 AM

DAY 3

START DATE
Why 270 BC? We chose it, because it is an easy year to begin a grand campaign that spans 200-300 years. 280 BC was a very crazy time period and it is very hard to make that date into a mod at such a huge scale. In fact the whole 270's BC decade is tough to simulate. Also, things got pretty crazy once the Punic Wars started in 264BC, so we wanted to find some middle ground where things were relatively more calm so factions could start out neutral against each other.

FACTION LIST

Yes, one of the most hotly contested topics for every RTW mod, the faction list. We can only choose 20 and for our time frame there are always the usual factions who are locked in no matter what. I will first provide the actual list and then one by one I will give a quick synopsis or overview of what to expect from each faction, both from a players stand point and ai. Through our testing we have a generally good idea of how each faction will operate when controlled by the AI, but we have only really tested a few factions for a players perspective. That my friends, will be up to you to figure out and let us know so we can better accommodate each faction to their strengths and weaknesses.

The List:
1) Rome
2) Carthage
3) Antigonid Kingdom
4) Seleucid Empire
5) Ptolemaic Empire
6) Bactria
7) Hellenic City States
8) Parthia
9) Pontus
10) Armenia
11) Gauls
12) Germans
13) Thracians
14) Illyrians
15) Celtiberians
16) Sarmatians
17) Saka
18) Galatians
19) Nabataea
20) Numidia
21) Independent Nations

Rome -
Playing as Rome is what you might expect.. They have just conquered most of the Italian Peninsula, are stable and are ready to take on the world. You will start off with a decent army and financial situation, though you'll need to try and avoid a war on two fronts or else you might find yourself on the defensive! As you expand you will find that logistics are necessary to be sufficient. AoR units are scarce, but mercenaries abound. Make use of using your Roman and Italic legions over seas, or else you won't defeat many factions.
AI Rome has been really focused on, and the hope is that it can be the 'bad guy' for every player's campaign.. Typically it will expand, but we have experimented with it expanding in multiple directions to simulate the expansion of the Republic. Don't be surprised if they take on Carthage early on.

Carthage -
Oh man, what would you do if you could start out at the Zenith of Carthage, before they yielded to Roman might? Would you subdue the Numidians and use them as your cavalry? Maybe conquer Iberia for it's vast riches? Or will you cut Rome off before they can rise to power? You have plenty of choices, and Carthage is gearing up to be one of the more fun factions to play as. You have strong homeland troops, and the most variety when it comes to recruiting AoR and mercenaries. Your armies could represent every culture in the world if you choose to conquer it!
AI Carthage was a bit of a mystery in trying to get them going, but we did. They will generally be friendly towards Numidia, instead focusing on Sicily and Iberia, mainly the latter. We have seen them take control and threaten the heart of Italy itself!

Antigonid Kingdom -
Macedon is probably one of the most fun factions to play as, partly due to the fact that they have an amazing unit roster to play with. Also, following Alexanders' footsteps is pretty tempting as well! You have a strong starting position and will have avenues of conquest in every direction. The Greeks will be tough to subdue and watch out for Illyrian and Thracian warbands encroaching onto your northern borders! Once past that, you will have to contend with the other Diadochi and eventually Rome for World Supremacy!
AI Macedon isn't the unstoppable black death that we all saw in RTRPE, that has been fixed. However, they are one of the strongest AI factions still. Generally they will conquer much of the Balkans before heading east. If they seem to be too strong still, please let us know!

Seleucid Empire -
Can you manage a large and stretched out empire? Can you fend off attacks from multiple enemies? Most importantly, can you make sure everyone stays happy in your realm? The Seleucids are one tough faction to play as, don't let all of that land deceive you. You own many territories consisting of dozens of different cultures, tribes and nations. The good thing is you have plenty of local troops to choose from, but watch out as they may turn on you and assert independence! Playing as the Seleucids is a challenge because the Ptolemies will always harass you, Parthia and Bactria want to grow in power, and Pontus and Armenia are looking to assert control in their respective areas. Also the Galatians will protect their lands fiercely. Be wise to keep a few of these factions at bay. The main issue is public order.. With Culture penalty, religion penalty (if you build colonies to gain better troops) and distance to capital, keeping your empire happy will be a struggle.
AI Seleucids used to crumble, and crumble fast. That was due to our rebellions occurring too frequently, but we have curbed that. However they still lose a bit but now, they remain strong as the game goes on.

Ptolemaic Empire -
A player couldn't ask for much more, and this would be the faction to play as if you are new to RTW and RTR. They have Egypt of course which makes them wealthy, and they also control land in the Aegean, as well as southern Asia Minor and the Levant. Keep an eye on the Nabataeans, they are a valuable trade partner but won't hesitate to attack you if the timing is right. The Seleucids are your most obvious threat, but be weary of the Greeks, Macedon, and later on Pontus in the west as they are all ambitious. AoR is easy to come by, and Hellenistic troops abound. However watch your homeland in Egypt. If the locals revolt, you will be in for some nasty fighting.
AI Ptolemies is what you would expect from Egypt in a RTW mod. They are rich, and they conquer. They will be a main foe in the later stages of the game, but luckily for you, these won't be the crazy chariot Egyptians we've all dealt with in vanilla!

Bactria -
We tried to stay close to the RTRPE faction list for this Beta and Bactria was a main focus. They are too interesting of a faction to not add in, and players tend to like expanding hellenism into India, so here you go! The Bactrians have more of a mixed roster than anyone else, but only have a few Diadochi type units. You'll have to rely on what is around you while keeping your Greeks at the core of your army. Expansion is tempting east into India and south to the Indian Ocean. The Seleucids are crumbling, but be wary or else you will be contesting with the equally ambitious Parthians. Also, don't sleep on the northern border. The mysterious and dangerous Saka could strike at any time!
AI Bactria does very well for itself, it expands and makes things interesting in the east.

Hellenic City States -
The Greeks of vanilla, pretty much to a 'T' but optimized to have a better roster and more unique starting position. We have yet to finally decide on their final starting locations, that decision will be made soon, but what I can say is there will be multiple theatres of expansion. You will have one in the Aegean of course, one in the west, and one in the Black Sea. You will be the only faction to field true Greek hoplite units, but also have reform units in the wings to keep up with the times. This is a unique faction as it is not centralized, but like in vanilla they are still very fun to play as.
AI Greeks do what they do best, and that is defend and engage in diplomacy. We were not looking for the to be very expansionist, but instead to slow others down. Be wise to and trade with them, keeping them as an ally, instead of engulfing them.

Parthia -
As Parthia, you are primed and ready to take your nomadic beginnings and transform them into a Persian Empire. You have a few lands north of you to subdue if you please, but the Seleucids are ripe for attack and will yield the most results as you continue to eat away at them. Beware to the north and the east though, as Bactria is just like you and the Saka need to find better lands for their herds. You start off with a very nomadic based army, but as you conquer Persia and Media, you will have access to the Iranian and Persian troops. Also, keep in mind that your cavalry is your strength!
AI Parthia is more than likely going to subdue the rebels in the north first, but after that it eats away at the Seleucids.. It's nice because it seems like in other mods they never eat away at them like they did in history, instead just mucking around the Aral Sea all game. In our tests we have seen them get to Mesopotamia, so it is very exciting. If for some reason they do not expand south and west, please report it to us!

Pontus -
Ah one of my favorite factions! This is a challenging start as you start small, and have enemies everywhere. Luckily along the northern coast of Asia Minor there are a few settlements waiting to be integrated into your kingdom. Be wary of the Galatians and Armenians as they are your most immediate threats. Stray too south and you will encounter the mighty Seleucids and Ptolemies which may prove too much to handle. However if you look to the north and west on the coasts of the Black Sea you will find riches that might lead to glory! Pontus gets a very good unit roster, including some awesome reform units, but lack in cavalry.
AI Pontus is pretty powerful, and they usually end up dueling with the Ptolemies and Macedon towards the later game.

Armenia -
Man this faction seems to be the 'forgotten one' in my mind. I still have yet to really play as them , or research them entirely. I am not sure why people don't play them more. They are essential to every mod, it wouldn't be right to not include them. I digress. Armenia has a very easy starting position, essentially being surrouced by avenues of expansion. The Caucasian tribes are to the north, Atropatene to the east and Cappadocia to the west. You will need to be wise in how you handle Pontus, and always be wary of the Seleucids if they regain their strength! Their unit roster is more unique than it is in other mods, and I wouldn't consider them to be fully finished, so it's exciting that they are interesting for 4.0!
AI Armenia does what it needs to, and sometimes more. They are a bit mysterious so anything can happen with them, as we have seen them stumble and we have seen them become mighty.

Gauls -
The Gauls will be a long game, as uniting the tribes is your first task as you only start with a few settlements with hostile tribes all around. Your unit roster is basic but some tribes will offer specialized troops if you can subdue them. Once united, you might be the mightiest nation of all tribal peoples, but you with have Roman and Carthaginian threats from the south to deal with. Don't forget, that across the Rhine in the dark forests, lurk another nation, waiting to spring out and erase you from the land.
The Gauls are quite powerful once they can unify, and typically control the west in certain games. Other times, Rome might have their way with them and they can end up being even with Germania. Basically, many scenarios can occur with them.

Germans -
You are relatively unknown, but those who do know you, fear you.. You are poor, you lack technology and your people are wild.. However there is a sense of pride building and the yearning for exploration and conquest is near. Going south you will encounter Thracians and Illyrians, and going west you will encounter a more sophisticated people in the Gauls. A good player would be wise to move swiftly as the lands you start with are very poor. One advantage is that you have many unique tribal warriors to choose from that will give you a good chance at defeating anyone.. Even the mighty Romans some day.
AI Germans can either be really strong, or rather docile. It all depends on the circumstances.

Thracians -
No this isn't the Thrace of vanilla that represents a Lysimachian type Kingdom. This faction is more like Dacia, just with Thrace as the name. We had a large discussion on it, and basically came to the conclusion that this faction would represent all of the 'Thracian' peoples such as the Odrsyi and Getai, and that eventually after expanding, could represent Dacia in the later game as well as the Bastarnae. Because of this their lands are split. In the north you are the Getai, and in the south you are actual Thracians. The Galatians hold the land in between as the Celtic invasion has just finished. Their are ripe lands to take, but beware of Macedon to the west as they may try and consolidate you, like they once did before.
AI Thrace does its part to make that area interesting. Once Macedon chomps into them, they seem to die off. We are going to monitor how they are in 4.0, so please give us feedback on them!

Illyrians -
RTR was the first mod to represent the Illyrians and we continue to represent them in RTR8. Why other mods don't is beyond me because they are truly unique and add a level of immersion to the Balkans. This faction is tough because even though there is an early opportunity to expand, you will run into both Macedon and Rome eventually. I would recommend this faction to more experienced players, as it offers a very good challenge. The unit roster is the best Illyrian roster that the RTW modding world has seen in our opinion, and we are proud to represent it!
AI Illyria starts off well, but again, Macedon has it's way. Also we have made it to where Rome invades them, so sometimes they last a long time, and sometimes they are the first ones out. Another faction to monitor!

Celtiberians -
They used to be the Iberians, until we realized they 'Iberians' didn't pose much threat. The Celtiberians did though and were famous for resisting Rome as well as Carthage. As a player you will start in the middle of the peninsula and have the opportunity to expand everywhere. Be wary of Carthage though, as they are looking to grow their empire to your south. The Gauls lurk to the north, the Greeks are near and the Romans could appear at any time. Again, we gave this faction a very diverse roster, both factional and for the AoR, we hope you enjoy them!
AI Celtiberians used to dominate before we figured some things out, now they are more defensive but extremely hard to conquer.

Sarmatians -
Most mods, the Sarmatians are known as almost impossible to play. In RTR8 they won't be easy but like the Illyrians they won't be impossible. This would be another faction that I recommend to experienced RTW players. They start with a few regions, but the issue is they are far from each other. They will need to expand, and expand quickly to get off to a decent start. Luckily the Scythains are on the decline, and don't forget the Greek colonies in the Bosporan region will offer the most riches. In the east the Parthians and Saka may try and push your herds even farther west, so be ready for some attacks from the east.
We are working hard on AI Sarmatia. If they don't expand in your games please let us know. We really would like for them to expand west as they did in history.

Saka -
We are the second mod now, behind EB to feature the Saka as a faction. You can credit Xeofox, our archaeologist friend from Kazakhstan for pushing this faction into reality. Unfortunately they were the toughest to play as and the AI never did much with them. The map was adjusted recently to accommodate them and playing them is really fun now. You start with a somewhat limited nomadic roster, but as you go south, you have the opportunity to recruit Greek, Iranian, and Indian units, as well as other Tribal Nomads. This is the hardest campaign by far, but should yield great fun if played right!
AI Saka used to do nothing, but after changes they expand quickly and can really be a thorn in the side of Bactria.

Galatians -
This is an interesting faction. At first we made them the 'Gauls of the East' but it was strange and not too realistic. Now they represent the historic Galatians after settling in Asia Minor and also Tylis. We actually have not tested these guys a whole lot but they give me a feeling that they might be the hardest to play as (even harder than Saka) because they do not have a lot of avenues to expand early without running into another power. They have a similar roster to the Gauls but have some unique units as well. I'd recommend giving this faction a go if you want a hardcore experience.
AI Galatians go on the defensive immediately. Nothing else more to say haha

Nabataea -
A faction to add immersion in an area that gets little attention in mods. Yes, EB added Saba, but we aren't trying to mimic that. Nabataea had more influence on our world and were more relevant anyway. We have done substantial research and have given them a pretty diverse and unique roster. Getting rich is easy and expanding south also is easy. However expanding north is a challenge as the Ptolemies and Seleucids will try to take whatever lands posssible to get the upperhand in their never-ending war. I would say that this is a challenging campaign but not super hard, unless you provoke the Diadochi too soon.
AI Nabataea does really well, and can usually pick away at the Diadochi as they destroy each other.

Numidia -
Just like Bactria and Illyria, Numidia was kept to keep in line with our roots here at RTR. So many mods shove them aside, but we are loyal to our nomadic desert friends. Numidia was the hardest faction in RTRPE, but are a bit easier with better relations to Carthage in RTR8. However you are still poor, and your army is weak. It would be wise to stike Carthage fast and strike where they'd least expect you to. Expanding into Iberia is a solid option, and if Rome ever gets near, you will need to be prepared.
AI Numidia doesn't do much unless Carthage provkes them, and sometimes they even take Africa for themselves.

Independent Nations -
The Rebels in RTR8 have been made extremely powerful, and aggressive so don't treat them as a push over. They will recruit, they will move, they will combine forces, and they will attack, so be wary!

That's it for the faction preview, tomorrow I will discuss the map!

**ahowl11** · April 25, 2018, 02:01 AM

Day 4

THE MAP

Alright, I almost went to bed tonight, and then I realized I had to write about our amazing map! Sometimes real life can really distract us from our passions and hobbies.

So our map has a few creators blended into one. For starters, ngr, made the old Mundus Magnus map, which stretched the vanilla map out to India and south to include all of Arabia. Then Philadelphos made his mod, Rome Total History and it used the old RTRPE map.. but he then blended it with the Mundus Magnus map, with the help of Suppanut, the main contributor to Extended Cultures (XC). I liked what Philadelphos added because it made the map more realistic and immersive.
Anyways, fast forward a few years.. the RTR Project had virtually failed after our 0.5 Imperial Campaign.. the team broke apart. Then in May of 2015, I got together with an old friend, Anarchon and we made the base map of what you will see, based off of the map from Philadelphos.

This map is as accurate as we can make it, and it features some navigable rivers as well as interesting mountain passes and accurate borders. One thing that it features that really helps the AI is land bridges. We have put land bridges in spots where the AI needs it most. I wish the naval aspects of RTW were better, because in most cases the AI just needs to board it's units and then land them a few tiles over and it would do the job. But the AI rarely if ever does this, so land bridges are necessary for certain factions to expand in the most realistic directions. I hope you all as players can understand why we added land bridges.. I know they might not be pleasing to the eye and it's not my first choice to add them.. But when the AI refuses to expand in an obvious direction, we had to help it. Otherwise, Carthage won't reinforce itself in Iberia, Rome would never invade Greece, and islands would never be conquered. We avoided all extreme land bridges (Sicily to Africa) but the most logical ones we have added in.

I personally love the looks of our map as well. We have a special blend made by Non-Binary Person who has combined RTRVII, RS2 and Ancient Empires Elysium elements together into one. The trees are beautiful and I love how they change color in the winter.

As far as cities are concerned we did a lot of research and experimented with many things. What we found was that a vanilla, bare bones approach works best for immersion.. In other mods, you will find cities fully developed, able to create a full army, and generally speaking you have a few huge armies to begin conquering right away. To me that makes the game easy and very boring. I need a challenge, and RTR is all about making the game hard and immersive. So most settlements start off with the bare minimum which allows you to develop them into what you want them to be. Also, you will start with basic units, just like in vanilla. Some of my favorite things about vanilla is taking a faction that starts with basically nothing and turning it into my own empire, where I can sit back and say 'I did this' instead of just conquering fully developed cities from turn 1.

You will find Population isn't as booming in RTR as in other mods.. We took this page out of ExRM's book. All settlements will have a base population growth and it can be affected by buildings. This really makes the game more strategic as instead of flowing with man power you need to actually think about what you will recruit. This also helps the AI so it doesn't blob full stack armies in a corner of the map. The most important thing that it helps though is Squalor. No longer will population be flooding your cities.. we have fixed a major bug that would double population growth based off Grain. So be mindful when setting all of your taxes to Very High, as you might actually lose population from it!

We have also decided recently to stick to 2 turns per year. Really, 4 turns didn't do much except warp time. When it's 260BC and a faction controls a huge potion of the map, it doesn't seem realistic for 10 years of gameplay. Also 2 turns just lets the game run smoother. It ends in 14 AD so you will have plenty of time to conquer the world!

Generally speaking the AI expands well, we have done multiple tests and might make a few tweaks. Nobody overpowers in every game, though some do sometimes, which is okay for us. The Rebels are harder than ever and really do a great job of simulating small nations. For example, try taking over Bithynia.. not easy!

Anyways, I have a lot more to discuss with you all before release! We are half way there. Tomorrow I will delve into our buildings and economy, and why we chose the route we did.

**ahowl11** · April 26, 2018, 01:39 AM

Hello everyone. I do not have a ton of time tonight, but I will have the Economy and buildings explained here:

Day 5

THE ECONOMY

The economy in RTW has been known to be relatively easy, even with most mods. In RTR we try to make it harder without making the game impossible. Basically we have implemented the ExRM system, verbatim and the best way to describe it is by quoting the great Quinn Himself!

Farming and Growth:
Income from farms was historically the major source of income for most states, yet the RTW engine heavily privileges trade (especially sea trade). As a result of this, in a well-balanced mod, you won't be able to recruit and sustain a major army from inland regions. If you could, then you'd have to be able to recruit huge armies from the coastal regions.

We've fixed this by leveraging the game's "tax income" feature into a farm-based income system. Regions are given tax income multipliers based on both their base fertility and the level of farming improvements there. Many improvements also give minor income tax penalties to represent maintenance and/or pollution costs, but they always make up for it in other ways. This forces players to be careful to build infrastructure only where they actually need it.

This ensures that farming (in most regions) is a more important source of wealth than trade, but that trade remains important to your overall income stream. This system allows inland regions to support troops just as well as coastal ones, or at least nearly as well. (A new "river ports" system that increases trade bonuses in regions with great rivers also helps.)

As you can imagine, this system required us to tackle growth, as well. Astute players will have noticed that growth in most RTW mods (to say nothing of the unmodded game) is heavily weighted toward the early game, since a base fertility level of 6 is equivalent to L2 farms + L2 sewers + L2 trader. We thought this made games too quick while simultaneously deprecating the importance of proper region management. So we set up a system of slow, balanced growth that relies more on buildings and less on base fertility.

This allows for the measured growth of regions, and rewards careful management by players. It should also reduce the occurrence of population-growth-induced rioting, since such growth cannot get out of control now. Your people may still have reasons to riot, but displeasure at ahistoric population growth rates will no longer be one of them.

We've also added a Herding building tree for nomadic cultures that they can choose instead of the agricultural tree. This allows them to develop their populations in a more realistic fashion.

Trade:

You'll see a few new trade resources in the game, such as salt and fish. We thought these were more important than some of the existing ones, and allowed us to more accurately portray the strategic significance of some cities.

Much more has changed "under the hood" with the trading system. Fewer buildings provide trade bonuses now, and many of those that do provide such bonuses only boost land trade. This allows us to keep trade income from become the main source of income for almost all factions, like it is in the unmodified game, and it also prevents the income from sea trade from completely overshadowing land trade income. Trade is still very important, of course, but it's now just one part of a balanced budget.

Money:
We've added a much more aggressive money script to help the AI stay out of too much trouble. For the record, it doesn't get them too far in the black, not enough to buy >1 weak unit per turn, but it'll keep them from ending up in a hole they'll never be able to get out of.

There's also a modest small empire money boost to keep small factions in the game. It's not much at the moment, but the script infrastructure is in place for easy modification.

Also, bhl_20 has added some 'monuments' that help the AI, and those are relied upon more than the script as we are trying to have as little scripting as possible!

A few other things that we have added:

-XGM's Colony infrastructure:

A new culture mechanism has been introduced using the religion mechanism from the Barbarian Invasion expansion. Populations are divided between three culture groups: Tribal, Western Civilized, and Eastern Civilized. When you capture a settlement that belongs to another culture you can begin converting the population to your own culture by building a colony. This will cause unrest in the short term but greater stability and tax income in the long term. It will also make it possible to build higher level barracks in the settlement.

Building a colony takes time, involves considerable expense, and can seriously annoy the natives. When deciding where to expand, consider carefully whether you will need to build colonies in your newly captured territories. Expansion is always easier in regions that share your faction’s culture. If you do decide to colonize, make sure you are ready to deal with the ensuing unrest. Sometimes building entertainment or cultural buildings, like Theaters or Arenas, in advance can be a good idea.

-Base Climate for each region (still a WIP)

-Better Naval Tree based off of Metro-Naval Mod

-More immersive Mining Tree based off Metro-Naval Mod

-Silk Road represented

-As discussed earlier, new recruitment buildings for each faction/culture including one for rebels only

-A Phalanx Reform building (cannot be built). This building when present in a settlement will allow factions like Armenia or Parthia be able to recruit Phalangites if they decide to build the barracks that recruits AoR troops.

Our building tree is far from finished, and will be focused on in our next versions and patches to come. We have a whole bunch of ideas, and I am sure there will be a ton of changes. What we offer in 4.0 is the most basic and simplistic building tree. We will be adding extensively to it in coming versions.

Hope you learned a lot and can know what to expect going forward! Tomorrow we will talk about Culture, Rebels and Revolts!

**ahowl11** · April 27, 2018, 01:58 AM

Day 6

CULTURE

This will be a short one, but a bit of a more personal one.

I love studying ancient cultures and what made each different from the other. When I first set out to 'revive' RTR, I imagined a mod that really stressed cultural diversity. We have yet to reach the point where I can say it is finished, but we have certainly made big strides over the past year and a half.

First there are two different types of culture that you will find in RTR:

1) Base Culture mechanic - the seven different cultures who have different UI, buildings, music, and voices. Also determines strat map cities and rebel types.
2) Religion Mechanic from BI - there are 3 main cultures present and the main thing they affect is public order.

The 7 Base Cultures are:-
Roman
Carthaginian/African
Celtic
Balkan
Eastern
Greek
Nomad

Balkan is the new one, and it represents the Thracians and Illyrians.. They weren't Greek nor 'barbarian' but had tribal and civilized influences. We have not really fleshed them out yet but they represent a mix of both Greek and Celtic cultures.

The Nomads also will have unique game play features, which again, aren't fully fleshed out yet.

The three cultures (religions) are:
Western Civilized
Eastern Civilized
Tribal

Tribal can be found in many locations, and on many occasions cultures will be mixed depending on each regions history. As discussed above, Colonies will play a major part in how regions develop. We will be experimenting and ironing out this feature after 4.0 to perfect it and make the game as challenging and immersive as possible. Right now, we can guarantee that as the culture changes in your settlement, to make sure you make the populace stay content under your rule, or else you will have rebellions!

REBELS

Speaking of Rebels, we have overhauled their faction from being a pushover to a threat. In vanilla and other mods, Rebels stay to their towns, don't recruit and hope for the best. Not in RTR. All rebel starting positions represent an independent nation that we weren't able to use a faction slot for. They have decent armies, two family members, are given a ton of money to operate (to simulate each nation independently) and have a special building in each region that allows them to recruit anything and everything they want in one given region. The Rebels have been known to merge forces as well as attack AI or player settlements. They do a great job of defending their towns and even retrain their troops if you can't defeat them initially. This is something that we are very proud of and we are excited to see how they fare once released!

Thanks for reading through this all, 400+ views is a good start and I know this mod will be worth playing for you.

Tomorrow I will touch on unit stats and battles. Only 2 days left folks!

**jseph1234** · February 27, 2019, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by ahowl11

mods like Rs2, Res Gestae, and CATW all have wonderful models, but they use custom skin and face textures, which really turn me off for some reason, so I have decided to keep a more classic and nostalgic look for RTR8.

I Don't see why that turn off and seems a bit disrespectful to those modders to boot!

Think about if someone said that about YOUR mods. Just sayin'