I'm back, baby! or, the Roman Empire Total Conversion

[Professor420]

To quote Frank Costanza: Gimme that spatula! I'm back, baby!

That's right. After more than a year and a half away from active TW modding, I'm back. Why? Well, I graduated college, got an industry job, except its pretty boring, and I have plenty of free time, even with other TW community projects I am a part of. For the past year and a half, I've been working mostly on www.bloodandirongame.com , and you can see more art at my website, www.robg3d.com . I need a creative outlet, and I really want a Roman M2TW mod from a different period from EB (and I don't want to work with a big team).

So, what do I intend to do? Hopefully, the mod would be a total conversion, chronicling the fall of the Republic, Civil Wars, the Principate, etc. I'm fascinated by this time, though I suppose the Year of the Four Emperors could be a good starting point... regardless, we can decide later, but this is the time period I'm concerned with.

Who do I need: Well, I'll be doing most of the art. One thing I've learned in 3 years of development is that, its often faster to do things yourself than manage a team, assuming one is talented enough to do it oneself. I am looking for two people:
Historian: When I say historian, I mean it; if you haven't read Appian, Seutonius, Plutarch, and Tacitus, no need applying. You also need to be willing to do a fair amount of research and gather art resources (such as shield emblems for the different legions).
An EXPERIENCED M2TW modder: For the first couple months no actual coding will need to be done, I just need someone to design the game with; truth be told I've never even unpaked M2TW, and I never got into RTW code files much. I just want to know what is possible in M2TW in order to design around it.

One last note. The job I have is currently freelance work, and sooner or later I may get a good job offer as an onsite character artist, which I will likely take. I have no idea when this may happen, it could be 6 weeks or 6 months or a year, no idea. I'm not in a rush, but my resumes have been sent for a couple weeks already. IF I were to get a job during the early stages, and couldn't keep up the mod, it could cause problems; however, I guess the team can decide where to go from there, whether to open-source the art or keep developing without me. I just thought I'd give the heads up sooner rather than later since it is a definite possibility.
If you're interested, please PM me or MSN me (in profile).

[Greenbeef]

Well I can definitely say there are alot of people looking for something like this. I'm sure EB II will be good, but it probably won't be out for a very long time. So while I can't really contribute, I wanted to say thank you for stepping up and taking on this project.

[Hounf of Culan]

WOOOOOT!!! YAAAAAAAH!!!!!

Like the guy before me I can't help for squat but I have a compulsive need to play the Romans on the M2TW engine.

[Dreadking]

Good luck! I hope see this mod reaping good gameplay

[Serious Spamurai]

Good luck, I'd love to help but I'm othrtwise engaged with modding projects, and I'd rather be able to devote all of my attention to 2 mods, that to 3, especially with 2 of those being major. But good luck.

[Icefrisco]

Nice quote to return with!

Anyway, your mod idea sounds great!

I know a lot about the history of the time but I havent read the works of any of the great historians of the period.

[Professor420]

Alright well in some minor discussions with people, here's the ideas that I/we've come up with; I'd appreciate feedback on if people like them, if they're feasible, and how to do them.

Panzer Tanks:
Sorry just kidding.

Roma-centric: The mod will definately be Roma-centric, meant to be played as Rome and Rome alone. There are plenty of mods, such as EB, to give a balanced experience, I want this to more represent a depth to the Roman side of things that cannot be expressed in a more traditional Total War setup.

Rome: I'd like to break Rome up into a bunch of factions based on regional control, with their traditional allegiances and affiliations. The two main factions would be the Populares/Caesarions, and the Republicans(or whatever their Roman name was)/Pompeians. Caesar would have more territories, most notably Gaul and Cisalpine Gaul, but Pompey holds Italy and is on better terms with most of the provinces (especially Spain and Asia). Rome would have factions for Hispania, Africa, Asia Minor, Greece/Macedonia, and Syria/Middle East.

Factions and Shadow Factions: The mod would likely start right before the Civil Wars of Pompey and Caesar; this means most of the traditional Roman Empire is conquered, or more likely, under Roman influence/satellite states. All these states, like Rome itself, was constantly under civil war and threat: Egypt, Numidia, Armenia, Parthia, etc. I'm thinking about the following factions:
Roman:

• Caesar (perhaps destruction can trigger Antony and Octavian armies)
• Pompey (perhaps destruction can trigger Brutus/Cassius, Cato/Scipio, and army of Pompey's sons)
• Spain
• Africa
• Middle-East-
• Asia Minor
• Greece

Other factions:
Germany
Numidia
Egypt (and Shadow Faction)
Thrace
Pannonia
Pontus/Bithynia
Armenia (and Shadow Faction)
Parthia (and Shadow Faction)
Scythia
----
Overall, I want to achieve something more akin to Alexander TW than a fully fleshed-out TW game. I think this is more realistic for a timely release and a finish, as well as a better experience for something focused like I'm planning. I'm really not prepared to do something on EB/RTR scale or manage a team of that size.

On the other hand, for setting, it can be set in the Triumvirate between Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus, but I haven't thought much about it.

If anyone has good ideas just please post them here, I'm really not so great with RTS design stuff.

[nosjo78]

WOW WOW WOW WOW, This mod sounds like its going to be awesome. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Actually the ideas you have sound like its taken from the HBO series Rome (which was awesome). You really need to get a ton of ppl working on this cause I want to play it NOW.

Alright well in some minor discussions with people, here's the ideas that I/we've come up with; I'd appreciate feedback on if people like them, if they're feasible, and how to do them.

Panzer Tanks:
Sorry just kidding.

Roma-centric: The mod will definately be Roma-centric, meant to be played as Rome and Rome alone. There are plenty of mods, such as EB, to give a balanced experience, I want this to more represent a depth to the Roman side of things that cannot be expressed in a more traditional Total War setup.

Rome: I'd like to break Rome up into a bunch of factions based on regional control, with their traditional allegiances and affiliations. The two main factions would be the Populares/Caesarions, and the Republicans(or whatever their Roman name was)/Pompeians. Caesar would have more territories, most notably Gaul and Cisalpine Gaul, but Pompey holds Italy and is on better terms with most of the provinces (especially Spain and Asia). Rome would have factions for Hispania, Africa, Asia Minor, Greece/Macedonia, and Syria/Middle East.

Factions and Shadow Factions: The mod would likely start right before the Civil Wars of Pompey and Caesar; this means most of the traditional Roman Empire is conquered, or more likely, under Roman influence/satellite states. All these states, like Rome itself, was constantly under civil war and threat: Egypt, Numidia, Armenia, Parthia, etc. I'm thinking about the following factions:
Roman:

• Caesar (perhaps destruction can trigger Antony and Octavian armies)
• Pompey (perhaps destruction can trigger Brutus/Cassius, Cato/Scipio, and army of Pompey's sons)
• Spain
• Africa
• Middle-East-
• Asia Minor
• Greece

Other factions:
Germany
Numidia
Egypt (and Shadow Faction)
Thrace
Pannonia
Pontus/Bithynia
Armenia (and Shadow Faction)
Parthia (and Shadow Faction)
Scythia
----
Overall, I want to achieve something more akin to Alexander TW than a fully fleshed-out TW game. I think this is more realistic for a timely release and a finish, as well as a better experience for something focused like I'm planning. I'm really not prepared to do something on EB/RTR scale or manage a team of that size.

On the other hand, for setting, it can be set in the Triumvirate between Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus, but I haven't thought much about it.

If anyone has good ideas just please post them here, I'm really not so great with RTS design stuff.

[DaLeGiOnArY]

WOW WOW WOW WOW, This mod sounds like its going to be awesome. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Actually the ideas you have sound like its taken from the HBO series Rome (which was awesome). You really need to get a ton of ppl working on this cause I want to play it NOW.

Thats because rome doubled as a porn show

[Mike13531]

so what...? a total map conversion to a different game, sort of? something like BC, except it's rome?
btw, your sig is funny!!! LOL

[alpaca]

Hey Prof, sounds like a nice approach. Good luck with it.
Can't help you in any large capacity, but you can always ask me questions if you have any

[HorseArcher]

Let's rock and roll Prof! If you got questions ask me.....as long as they aren't related to twc administration.

[Professor420]

so what...? a total map conversion to a different game, sort of? something like BC, except it's rome?
btw, your sig is funny!!! LOL

A total conversion, yes. But considering we have what amounts to an updated RTW engine, RTW and all the RTW mods to build off of, and loads of existing research and whatnot already, it isn't as hard as "true" total conversions that don't have similar subject matter to the target game. Anyway all I can guarentee is I'll be doing the art and guiding the team with experience, I don't want to be "project manager" for this mod as I usually end up being on projects, not enough time for art.

Thanks for the encouragment fellow Opifices.

Guys I haven't really received any interested people, I would imagine this would be a popular mod topic... where aaaare you?

[Serious Spamurai]

There are literally NO modders for m2tw, I could count them with fingers (well, maybe not, but I could on my fingers and toes though). That's why no one ahs joined up.

[Halie Satanus]

Guys I haven't really received any interested people, I would imagine this would be a popular mod topic... where aaaare you?

What you should do is join an existing team, making a mod on your own with little or no experience is...oh it's YOU!!....

[The Mongol]

I wanted to see an Ancient mod on the Medieval 2 engine some time. I hope this project goes well.

I want to play as the Germans in nice awesome graphics lol

[Professor420]

Alright well I'm starting some asset production, I'll have some screens sooner or later. I've also got a name: Imperator: Total War

[Mike13531]

lol, it's sort of true, right now, medieval 2 is split into 4 main groups, small group for DLV, slightly bigger for LTC, a big group for Stainless Steel, and another big group for BC.

[AlphaDelta]

and another big group for BC.

BC has a core development team of two with a small number of contributors. It's certainly not a big group.

Cheers

[Lusted]

slightly bigger for LTC

Just me actually, apart from wilddog who made the custom camapign maps, i do everything else myself.