Presenting my respects

**PSEUDO ROMANUS** · July 10, 2008, 12:23 PM

Hello FATW Team, I've checked your mod every now and then and, though I haven't played it and likely ever will (nothing personal, it's just that I'm not very fond of fantasy) that doesn't keep me from admiring your work, which, I must say, is amazing. I've seen your intro movies and every time I do I'm shocked by the quality of your work. It's like watching the LOTR movies. You have been able to recreate that environment perfectly. I may not be a fan of LOTR or playing this mod, but I certainly admire and respect your great work. I'm sure you guys make your fans very happy. Congratulations on a very good job!

**Lysander13** · July 10, 2008, 03:18 PM

You should really give it a shot. I was a casual LOTR fan. As in to say, previously to playing this mod, I had only watched the movies. This mod got me to go out and actually read the books. It is very well done and easily one of the best mods that has been produced for RTW. If you find it impressive just from previews. You should see what it actually plays like. After all, it's not as if it will cost you anything other than perhaps a little disk space.

**MasterOfNone** · July 10, 2008, 04:55 PM

Thank you Pseudo. Those are kind words and I am sure shall lift all involved in what is, after all, a very time-consuming and often frustrating process that is done in free time and with no other reward than to see a world one loves come into being - and the pleasure expressed by those who admire and play it.

It may surprise some to know that I am not a big fantasy fan. I find most of it cliched. Middle-earth is quite a different thing however - not withstanding fantastical interpretations of it in such forms as LOTRO! - and richly based on myth and real-world history and culture, as wall as language of course.

FATW has sought to perpetuate a standard of quality, stability and playability whilst staying true to the spirit of Tolkien and his world. I am glad this is seen and recognised. Thank you again for your kind words.

**Aradan** · July 10, 2008, 05:34 PM

MoN covered me. Thank you for your kind words!

**PSEUDO ROMANUS** · July 11, 2008, 10:15 AM

You're welcome but your thanks are not necessary. I'm just paying to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

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@Lysander13, I'll think aboit it, man. Thanks.

**Keravnos** · July 16, 2008, 04:28 AM

FATW has been, is, and will always be one of my favorites!

Thank you guys for an AMAZING mod.

**Agisilaos** · July 16, 2008, 03:05 PM

i agree with Keravnos post above

. thanks guys

**Aradan** · July 16, 2008, 04:32 PM

Again, thx guys! Posts like these keep us going.

**knight of virtue and valor** · July 16, 2008, 05:47 PM

Man, this mod "the 4rth age" is such a good Idea, I almost made a humble book off of it, in my "old fashioned" style of writing, a little bit like I posted in the thread "will the reunited kingdom fall".

**jegui** · July 18, 2008, 01:15 PM

FATW Team,

I must say you have achieved something really good here :-) I'm really more of a realism person and althought I watched LOTR 1,2,3 I haven't read the books myself. But I must admit you have really delivered a top notch mod...

I reluctantly downloaded a fantasy mod to try it out thinking that like all the other RTW mods it wouldn't reach the likes of my favourite one SPQR... I must confess I was wrong :-( It's well balanced, well thought, well designed and best of all challenging :-) I keep coming back and back to play one more turn and learn a bit more of the world of LOTR... better still the more I play in the campaign the more it becomes challenging with AI building up many well balanced stacks... Congratualltions!

I must confess that the only thing I still can't get here which I do in SPQR is 'huge' unit numbers and epic battles LTOR style (10k+ battles) but maybe that will change later in the campaign. Well done guys, you have another fan and thanks for bringing my BI cd back from the dead :-)

**Aradan** · July 18, 2008, 03:17 PM

We are very glad to get this kind of comments.

The number of armies and troops going around was significantly higher in earlier releases, but we felt it was unrealistic for Middle-earth to have all these roaming armies, plus it messed the balance of the campaign, because the AI recruited its settlements dry because it could afford to do so. So, it is accoridng to our planning that battles are rarer and of smaller scale than what you get on SPQR. Different style of gameplay you can say.

**MasterOfNone** · July 19, 2008, 05:19 AM

We hope others who tend to the "realism" mods will give FATW a whirl too - our approach has, I believe, been every bit as fastidious as a realism mod relative to Middle-earth lore, and perfectionist about stability and quality, and - due mainly to the efforts of Aradan - in balance. And we have sort to avoid the excesses of fantasy too...

Thx. for the kind words.