Nature Realism Mod

**Lord Rahl** · July 19, 2007, 11:17 PM

Perhaps contrary to popular belief, even though I am an Opifex, I have never modded so I don't know exactly how this idea can be implemented. Anyway, here is my thoughts on a nature realism mod...

After reading books on Alexander the Great and Hannibal in their massive campaigns, I came up with the idea for a mod that would try to create the effects of nature on a grander scale than I've seen in M2TW. I am currently playing the DLV mod with much satisfaction. I love their system of using armies. You can't just run around an army everywhere and do whatever you want. You have supplies and a sick general will hamper movement. In every mod I've played (just LTC and DLV) the disaster events are extremely rare and unimpressive, at least to me. They seemed to be random acts of God instead of realistic occurrences in nature. So, why not have nature be more realistic in the game?

My friend Publius tells me that my idea would take a lot of text but I think this idea would be worth it! What I propose is some sort of scripting (I think that is the right word) that would make natural events more numerous and more effecting towards playing the game, more specifically to armies. Alexander and Hannibal both had to put up with overflowing rivers and horrible winter weather. Why not have that in the game? Would it be possible to make rivers larger and/or impassable, say, if a flood on that river occurred? What about having bridges destroyed by flooding? Would it be possible to have certain mountain passes blocked because of harsh snow falls? What about blizzards, droughts, sandstorms, etc. wounding and demoralizing an army?

These are all things that happened in history that all commanders had to deal with. I like what DLV has done with making campaigning more difficult regarding supplies, foraging, and movement. I think the same could be possible for nature events in M2TW.

If people want me to expand on this idea more just let me know. Thoughts? Opinions? Comments?

**skullman86** · July 19, 2007, 11:54 PM

That sounds like a great idea, I only hope it's possible.I would love to see bridges washed away or troops slowly dying off because of a heatwave, torrential rain, or the diseases that follow afterwords.If it is in fact possible to do all the things you suggested then I bet most major mods will have to adopt similar features just because they are such awesome ideas.

**Lord Rahl** · July 20, 2007, 12:08 AM

There are so many possibilities if what I talked about was possible. There is nice looking terrain we can see in the game but none of it really means anything. You walk over snowy areas just as fast as a grassy plain.

Also, do roads make a difference in the game regarding military movement? I think they should.

**PaulusCliftus** · July 20, 2007, 12:13 AM

Originally Posted by Lord Rahl

Also, do roads make a difference in the game regarding military movement? I think they should.

I'm pretty sure on the campaign map they do, should be easy to test.

**Lord Rahl** · July 20, 2007, 12:16 AM

More ideas...

What about communications and supplies regarding the enemy's movement? Let's say that if you were in enemy territory and the enemy flanked you, your supplies should slow or stop and I think it'd be cool if your LOS would decrease a lot if that happened in the game. Make it so that if your army has a spy with them then the LOS is much greater. And also, currently in the game you can have the same men in an army pretty much indefinitely. Well, men will get old. Make it so that you will have to go and retrain an army to get new men.

EDIT: More ideas... make forts more important. Perhaps have a built fort have provincial bonuses attached to it. Por ejemplo, if there is a fort built in a friendly province then there is added law/order and if you have a fort in an enemy territory it means decreased law/order in that province. The same could apply to an army in enemy territory except a fort would just add more unrest. Another idea, have besieger casualties in the game like in Shogun.

**B. Ward** · July 20, 2007, 01:28 AM

i think the idea is grand and i had something similar in mind for a mod i'm currently designing. unfortunately for most, it's a fantasy mod not a realism mod, but i would have certain nature events to happen at every turn to make the game harder, like certain areas of the sea would be under constant storms but you would need to forge through to get to exotic lands filled with riches.