Release Announcement! - And Coding Preview

**Nero666** · March 21, 2007, 12:20 PM

Announcement: New release scheduled

After months of research and coding, we'd like to announce our update to Rise of Persia Beta 2. We expect to be able to release around half April.
Not only have we added over 2300 accurate character names to our mod, there's also a brand new recruitment system in place. This has led to a better balance between factions, and gameplay is way more accurate and fun. Of course our graphics team hasn't been quiet either - Vikrant has made an awesome recreation of the 560 BC Magadh army, including some fearsome four-horsed chariots.

However, we still haven't found anyone to help us solve the battle CTD - which is experienced by many people - but none of our team members. Therefore, we will greatly appreciate it if you join Rise of Persia as a beta tester. Some experience with either the RTW text files or beta testing is required.

Coding Preview: Recruitment System

Together with this announcement, we'd like to present to you our first ever coding preview, featuring our new recruitment system.

First a small introduction:
Because our factions are very varied, we had to create several sub-systems, each using approximately the same code but with large differences.
Some factions will have the ability to choose what they do - either assimilating the military of the conquered people into their own, or
starting a colony and training their own soldiers.
Other factions followed a more distinct path - always founding colonies once they conquer a region (like all Greek factions), or always using the army already present (like all Iranian factions).

First system:
The first two subsystems are more or less RTW style - given the fact that you can't choose which type of conquest you want to apply to a region. It's either colonizing the region, and installing your own military, or assimilating their military into yours:

A more indepth description of both subsystems:

The code. Makedon (on the left) is an assimilating faction, using the units available in the conquered regions. Sparta (right) is a colonizing faction, installing its own military wherever they go.
Note the order in which the barracks levels are placed.

Second System:
The second system is very different. The player actually can choose what he/she wants to do to the newly conquered region. Shall I use their military, or is it more wise to install a colony here, so I can power up exhausted armies from my homeland? It's all up to you.

More indepth description:

And, of course, an example of the code. Note that you can't establish a colony in your homeland:

We hope you have enjoyed this update

Credits:
Code: Nero666
Research: Rez/FliegerAD/Zenith Darksea
Thanks: to all, who like this mod! We await your comments, critics and suggestions with great anticipation!

**zznɟ ǝɥʇ** · March 22, 2007, 10:26 AM

Wow this should be great!

Don't have the experience or time to be a beta tester though

**Slaxx Hatmen** · March 22, 2007, 01:06 PM

I would go for the second option as it allows for more gameplay possibilities. But I guess its up to the rest of the team as I just make the Music.

**Nero666** · March 22, 2007, 03:18 PM

Hehe it's all up to the player - they can choose the faction they want to play with - and thus what kind of recruitment system to use.
We will add the faction type and the difficulty level to the selection screen description of course

**Prytanis** · April 03, 2007, 02:48 AM

All I can say is, AWSOME!!!... I cant wait.

**Nero666** · May 12, 2007, 01:11 PM

I have to admit that our scheduled release for half april was a bit optimistic, as I didn't take my college exams into the equation, neither did I take some rl problems serious enough.
But, all features are properly implemented now, and last week most we did was testing the balance, changing some settings, and testing again.
The campaign is very stable as always - CTDs didn't appear at all, and I even played alot of years after the end date.
More importantly, Nikron, a member of the TWC community, has found a way around the battle map CTDs that plagued some ROP fans ever since beta 2 came out. Letting RTW decide the optimal video card settings for battles made the CTDs disappear for him. This could be explained by the custom preferences.txt that comes with ROP Beta 2.0, which is not likely to be compatible with all systems.

We have scheduled the release of the new version of ROP, entitled "ROP 2.1 - beta" next Monday, May 14th, at about 5 PM GMT.