The Shadow of Ishtar - The Beginning

[Atatürk]

INTERFACE BY EVYATAR



Unit skins by Evyatar, models by The Iberian.

























BATTLE SCREEN







Preview I: Faction Descriptions

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814-500BC






























The Entire Map

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Some Splash Screens

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A Special Thanks to the team who did 99% of the work on display here. Particularly Maxi90, Stephan and Dragonsign. (Not in any particular order)

A thanks to the polemarchia team and eothese for the materials they have supplied us with.

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The Shadow of Ishtar

The Current team: Atatürk (Leader), Stephan (Leader ,Researcher, 2D Artist), Dragonsign (Leader, Mapper, Researcher),Maxi90 (Researcher), Evyatar (Skinner, 2D Artist), Iberian (3D Modeler), PedroL (Researcher), Moros (Researcher)

If you would like to find out more about our mod, please press this link: http://www.modrealms.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=52

Signatures

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[Stephan]

i like the idea
but i dont think that south of the sahara was much civilisation or we really know very little about them.
but what about a mod between 900 and 600 that focuses on south europe, near east and north africa.

and the mod ends 500 with the persian invasion

[Atatürk]

i like the idea
but i dont think that south of the sahara was much civilisation or we really know very little about them.
but what about a mod between 900 and 600 that focuses on south europe, near east and north africa.

and the mod ends 500 with the persian invasion

You're right, very little is known about the ancient civilizations in the South of Africa. Who knows what went on, I don't. That's why it would be great if we could recruit some historians and researchers who could find out about these things.

The type of mod you suggested which focus's on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa is not very creative to be honest. That's pretty much exactly the same map as Rome: Total War. Plus the time span you suggested wouldn't be as interesting as the Time span of Rome: Total War.

I personally think this is a brilliant idea for a mod. It will be difficult there's no doubt about it, but it would also be a mod which would benefit the African community who I feel slightly sorry for because they do not have nearly as great an access as we do to learn about our ancestors. I would be privelaged, as I'm sure you would be to create Classical Africa: Total War.

[Sun Devil]

i like the idea
but i dont think that south of the sahara was much civilisation

You are pretty much right. In Africa there was a lot of stateless societies south of the Sahara. Basically tribal groups that had no centralized authority, full time government people, taxes, anything. To represent them in the game would be automatically a-historical. You would have to have a Sudanic state recognized for the time period (I think it was Mali then, but i'm not sure) and an east african state. Your time period is kind of hard, also, since Islam played a large role in the developments of trade and contact throughout Africa. Before that, contact between the diferrent parts was very limited to none because of the Sahara and the central forests.

Info from my world history textbook: http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bo...14/deluxe.html

[Stephan]

The type of mod you suggested which focus's on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa is not very creative to be honest. That's pretty much exactly the same map as Rome: Total War. Plus the time span you suggested wouldn't be as interesting as the Time span of Rome: Total War.

i think its a very interesting time period and theres no other m2 mod which covers this time period

[Atatürk]

i think its a very interesting time period and theres no other m2 mod which covers this time period

Perhaps if we focus on the North of Africa, and maybe even get the Arabian Peninsula involved. We would have all the North African factions which we know a fair amount about, plus we would have the Assyrians and Persians of the Arabian Peninsula.

What do you think? I would still like this mod to focus on Classical Africa though, there are still many African factions we know about like the Kush, Carthage, the Libyans, the Ancient Egyptians etc.

After all, the Kush did have a part of their empire in what we now call Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

South of the Sahara were stateless tribes, these count as rebels.

[Stephan]

i'd also add the near east that you can add babylon and assyria
and sicilia that carthao has something to fight for
maybe even italia where the italian factions fight for domination

[Atatürk]

i'd also add the near east that you can add babylon and assyria
and sicilia that carthao has something to fight for
maybe even italia where the italian factions fight for domination

Yes that's a good idea. But how were the Italians during 900BC, back then Rome was only a city, there was no Roman Empire. But you're right, we could include Southern Europe and the Mediterranean sea.

[Stephan]

great
we can do reserch about the italian factions later but im sure there was something
i'd love to help but i can only do research and a bit 2d art
maybe you can find a moddeler that would really be important because we would need totally new units for every faction

[Atatürk]

great
we can do reserch about the italian factions later but im sure there was something
i'd love to help but i can only do research and a bit 2d art
maybe you can find a moddeler that would really be important because we would need totally new units for every faction

Thanks for your help, it would be great if we can find out about these Italian factions. It would be great if you could do a bit of 2D art also, because at the moment it is a bit difficult to find team members.

I'll get right away at finding a modeler. As this is a total conversion mod we will need to make totally new units alongside the totally new factions.

[Stephan]

heres a map of the near east
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Ma...syria.png#file

and heres one of the greek and phoenician colonies
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...20060205161824

etruscans
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...20060206201049


its german but i think you understand what it is about:
italia 800 BC



Völker auf der italienischen Halbinsel zu Beginn der Eisenzeit

██ Ligurer

██ Veneter

██ Etrusker

██ Picener

██ Umbrer

██ Latiner

██ Osker

██ Messapier

██ Griechen

here are some shields i did hope you like them
big thx to B.Ward for his awesome shield templates

[Giorgios]

Hi, this looks like it could be quite an interesting mod...
How about this for a map?

[Stephan]

maybe a bit more in the west that marseille is the last city

[Venta Icenor Um]

Hmmm, at this time, much of the congo area was inhabited by the mysterious Bantu tribes who left no written record and were not known to many other civilizations so researching these people is going to be difficult. Only through Archeological evidence and study of genetics have scientist been able to document their expansion. The Bantu people are believed to have originated in the Eastern Nigeria-Cameroon area and spread out south over thousands of years displacing the hunter-gatherer people known as the Khoisan. The Khoisan were hunter-gatherers meaning they could not even be represented as rebels since they didn't build a single settlement as they roamed the land in bands, setting up temporary camps as nomads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion
If it were up to me i would cut the map off south of the Bight of Bonny

[Stephan]

i think we are going to use the map Giorgios posted maybe a bit more westwards but im not quite sure
marseille had much trade with the celts in the rhone valley so we would need to implant them too

[Venta Icenor Um]

Yeah that map would be at least 50X better, it'll be good to see some factions that aren't available in other mods. So will it be a bit like Rise of Persia but for MTW then?

[Nirmajek]

hello guys,
I got many points to tell about this project lol, I want to expose my opinions of what could be good for an historicaly accurate mod for a time line of 900-600 BC
I also got some questions

1- Very interesting project! As a interested reader of Ancient Egypt history (and of history in general), I would love to play this mod with Egypt lol (even though if I would appreciate more to recreate the opposition with Hittites...), but i'll say that this kind of mod would be a little complex...
2-I haven't found on which total war you want to do this mod... lol... Medieval 2 would be excellent, with the relation (between nations) aspect and the merchants!
3- Conquer Africa, it's interesting... but challenging? well, yes because it is a very vast territory with some inhospitalieted fields to go through... but in those ancient times, conquer all Africa is almost impossible. and there were not MANY great (native) civisations that did appear in the continent (in 900 BC) : Egypt of course; Kushite Kingdom that became Napata/Meroitic Kingdom in 800 BC; after that... some Berber tribes of Lybia like you described; at the north west, Berber/Numidian tribes weren't bad, but still, they weren't very civilised; Carthage, but like you have written, this first punic city was founded in 814 BC; far beneath them, the mysterious Nok civilisation.... so after them, I think that there's nothing more to expect, and nothing in south africa, i haven't found any proof of powerful nations lol... in that period of time, i suppose that no one found the potential to gather ressources and to settle himself on the territory...
4- i personnaly think that if you want to create a grand campaign, the map of Giorgios is more appropriate... simply because Egypt and Carthage didn't expand and evolve only in Africa...
Well, in fact, i don't want to break your dream lol, but there weren't big wars in the ancient african continent, except with Egyptians, and lately with Carthage (...known wars), you could invent the oppositions...
so i told that Giorgios map was an appropriate map, because Europe and Ancient Near East always had a enormous influence on Africa
in fact, i made a map with paint... but i don't know how to put it lol

can you give your impressions about that? and tell me how to put images lol

[Atatürk]

Hi, this looks like it could be quite an interesting mod...
How about this for a map?

Yep that's more the kind of map we're looking for now. It fits in very well, thanks for that.

hello guys,
I got many points to tell about this project lol, I want to expose my opinions of what could be good for an historicaly accurate mod for a time line of 900-600 BC
I also got some questions

1- Very interesting project! As a interested reader of Ancient Egypt history (and of history in general), I would love to play this mod with Egypt lol (even though if I would appreciate more to recreate the opposition with Hittites...), but i'll say that this kind of mod would be a little complex...
2-I haven't found on which total war you want to do this mod... lol... Medieval 2 would be excellent, with the relation (between nations) aspect and the merchants!
3- Conquer Africa, it's interesting... but challenging? well, yes because it is a very vast territory with some inhospitalieted fields to go through... but in those ancient times, conquer all Africa is almost impossible. and there were not MANY great (native) civisations that did appear in the continent (in 900 BC) : Egypt of course; Kushite Kingdom that became Napata/Meroitic Kingdom in 800 BC; after that... some Berber tribes of Lybia like you described; at the north west, Berber/Numidian tribes weren't bad, but still, they weren't very civilised; Carthage, but like you have written, this first punic city was founded in 814 BC; far beneath them, the mysterious Nok civilisation.... so after them, I think that there's nothing more to expect, and nothing in south africa, i haven't found any proof of powerful nations lol... in that period of time, i suppose that no one found the potential to gather ressources and to settle himself on the territory...
4- i personnaly think that if you want to create a grand campaign, the map of Giorgios is more appropriate... simply because Egypt and Carthage didn't expand and evolve only in Africa...
Well, in fact, i don't want to break your dream lol, but there weren't big wars in the ancient african continent, except with Egyptians, and lately with Carthage (...known wars), you could invent the oppositions...
so i told that Giorgios map was an appropriate map, because Europe and Ancient Near East always had a enormous influence on Africa
in fact, i made a map with paint... but i don't know how to put it lol

can you give your impressions about that? and tell me how to put images lol

Yes, you're right there was almost no, or little civilization in the South of Africa which is why we've moved the campaign map further Northwards to accommodate Italy, Greece, Asia Minor and Arabia.

There weren't any particularly big wars in parts of Africa during this time. But there was still several notable wars, such as the Assyrian attacks on the Egyptian Empire.

[Stephan]

maybe the starting date should be 814 with the foundation of carthago:hmmm:

So will it be a bit like Rise of Persia but for MTW then

no its more like assyria tw

[Atatürk]

maybe the starting date should be 814 with the foundation of carthago:hmmm:


no its more like assyria tw

Yes, that would be more accurate. It would be inaccurate having Carthage at 900BC, and there isn't too much different with the dates so the flavour of the mod won't be altered.



The Assyrian's.

I'm actually having trouble finding a mapper at the moment. If anyone is interested please let me know.
I'm trying to gather up enough team members and build up enough of a foundation so that we can have our own sub-forum.

We're also looking for a new name for the mod, since the focus is less so on Africa, plus the name lacks originality.