Official 'Third Age 1.0 - 3.2 Question & Answer' Thread

[Dusan Silni]

How can I call on a invasion when i am a good faction against evil factions?

[Ngugi]

How can I call on a invasion when i am a good faction against evil factions?

The short answer is: You can not.


The Long answer is that Invasions are just renamed Crusades from M2, and unless the faction is catholic [called Followers of Melkor in TATW] the faction can neither call or join.
However, the mod DCI: Tôl Acharn allow for good Men to call and join Tôl Acharn. counter-invasions, jihads renamed from M2.
The mod can be installed alone and is also found in the compilitions MOS and Withwnar's Submod Collection - all links are found in my signature.

[Macilrille]

Most choose Rhûn for their economy and awesome unit roster.

[riuk881]

Most choose Rhûn for their economy and awesome unit roster.

Thanks! I'll go with Rhun and the chance i won't have to fight Gondor. I like Gondor...

[toolbox642]

I don't think I've ever played a campaign long enough to have my king die of old age. Does anyone know what the estimated max age of generals is? and does it differ for each faction?

[Ngugi]

Generals will start to die from high age around 120 years old IIRC (while the max age is [hardcoded to] 150 years).
This is a compromise as all factions share the same setting when generals shall start to die and TATW has both Elves and mortal Men to balance in that setting.

[knight of meh]

and it doesn't differ for each faction just to be clear as the laws of age are shared by all general units

[Macilrille]

It is a TW thing that cannot be changed as there were apparently no reliable evidence of the fair folk and Dwarves in our own middle ages. In MTW they usually die between 75 and 80, and the TATW team has extended it somehow for all to reflect that some peoples in Middle-earth have long lifepans (especially of course the Elves whose lives will only stop when Ea is remade).

[zax]

Question: Has anyone achieved second level of gwaith guild playing as HE in vanilla TATW? It seems I cannot get it despite having highest level of armory in Eregion? Can guild points go negative because of guild normalisation?

[Red Viper]

Why does my faction heir never get asked for marriage first? Always (whatever faction I have) the other family members get a marriage offer, the faction heir (who usually the oldest of the lot) only when everybody else is marriaged.

[Macilrille]

Zax, no, I am with you on that one.

RV, never thought about that.

[aRandomPerson]

What would you consider the hardest 'Good' campaign? I've tried most, and good seems to be alot more powerful than evil. Even Gondor didn't offer too much of a challenge. Yes, I play VH/VH.

And the hardest evil?

[Ngugi]

Question: Has anyone achieved second level of gwaith guild playing as HE in vanilla TATW? It seems I cannot get it despite having highest level of armory in Eregion? Can guild points go negative because of guild normalisation?

IIRC the gwaith guild uses guild points from when you build (and capture?) and upgrade armouries/smithies. Sufficent guild points have to be avilable for a guild to be proposed and the points are spent when a guild is built. Also they at some unknown, though I presume slow, rate diminish over time if not used.
Lastly if you have built a guild in a settlement another may not be created there, so check for that in Ost-in-Edhil.

What would you consider the hardest 'Good' campaign? I've tried most, and good seems to be alot more powerful than evil. Even Gondor didn't offer too much of a challenge. Yes, I play VH/VH.

And the hardest evil?

Gondor is generally considered the hardest faction, due to the dual threat of Mordor and Harad. Though that is much a matter of strategy, if either one, normally suggested Harad, is taken out as soon as possible it's not too hard non the less. That however can be a fairly easy matter (if Umbar is taken out ASAP) or a more tricky buisness if you work your way down by land from the north.
Anyhow perhaps you should turtle to get proper opposition, Macilrille above for example loves to; don't expand [much] early and don't try to take out any foes but give yourself time to develop and more so them, then you a bit into the campaign will have a challenge to chew on.

Among evil factions Orcs of the Misty Mountains are well known to be hard, because of the roster and the starting outstreched geography, with Dwarves and Elves eager to beat you up.

[zax]

IIRC the gwaith guild uses guild points from when you build (and capture?) and upgrade armouries/smithies. Sufficent guild points have to be avilable for a guild to be proposed and the points are spent when a guild is built. Also they at some unknown, though I presume slow, rate diminish over time if not used.
Lastly if you have built a guild in a settlement another may not be created there, so check for that in Ost-in-Edhil.

I know that m8, i looked in the files. Guild normalisation kicks in after turn 45, but let me try to explain it bit further.
In theory I've met all requirements, maxed city level, built all the smithys to accumulate guild points (25+75+150+70=320) in a row, no other guilds present (not even invited), heaps of gold every turn, yet no guild popup. Maybe I'm missing something, I checked EDB and EDG files but maybe there is something more elsewhere, one more condition or whatever. In TATW 2.1 I do get Gwaith guild, in 3.2 so far never (played like 10 HE campaings in a row).

So is it just my bad luck? Has anyone obtained Gwaith guild for HE in 3.2?
Or if it is not bad luck, maybe guild points can go negative. Usually as HE I kill Isengard first, then around turn 50 conquer Ost in Edhil. I get maxed out city around turn 300 (no cheating). Guild points start to decrease after turn 45. Following this, at turn 300 city should have -255 points, if they can go negative, so by no means I can get 250 guild points required for guild popup. (-255+320=65, not considering smith build time). Any thoughts?

[Wizad]

What would you consider the hardest 'Good' campaign? I've tried most, and good seems to be alot more powerful than evil. Even Gondor didn't offer too much of a challenge. Yes, I play VH/VH.

And the hardest evil?

Gondor with a couple of submods, such as MOS and another one I can't remember. Basically Mordor and Harad will get more money to spend, Mordor will get a free huge army with Mumakil and Olog-Hai every 10-20 turns, Mordor will get free small armies for every region in the hands of an evil faction, and last but not least the Nazguls are immortal. I found that to be quite the challenge. The Gondor faction with MOS gives the most complete feeling of all faction/submod combinations in my opinion.

The Orcs of the Misty Mountains are hard in all versions simply because their roster lacks and their units are weak. The setting of the OotMM is amazing, the Misty Mountains are really well made in Third Age. However the faction simply feels incomplete to me. For a more complete faction there is Isengard with or without MOS. Again there are a couple of features missing that give it a bit of an incomplete feeling but it's still very fun to play.

Have fun with your campaigns.

[toolbox642]

Hello! quick question about family trees! im playing with Baron Samedis submod, where there is the "choose your next heir" ability. I was wondering what would happen if I give that ancillary (heir crown) to a non-family member general, and my king, heir die... does the general become the king? (or do you loose the game because your family tree is dead?) and if it would work, would it start a new family tree? (or is that just too complicated to do?)

thanks!

[Ngugi]

I know that m8, i looked in the files. Guild normalisation kicks in after turn 45, but let me try to explain it bit further.
In theory I've met all requirements, maxed city level, built all the smithys to accumulate guild points (25+75+150+70=320) in a row, no other guilds present (not even invited), heaps of gold every turn, yet no guild popup. Maybe I'm missing something, I checked EDB and EDG files but maybe there is something more elsewhere, one more condition or whatever. In TATW 2.1 I do get Gwaith guild, in 3.2 so far never (played like 10 HE campaings in a row).

So is it just my bad luck? Has anyone obtained Gwaith guild for HE in 3.2?
Or if it is not bad luck, maybe guild points can go negative. Usually as HE I kill Isengard first, then around turn 50 conquer Ost in Edhil. I get maxed out city around turn 300 (no cheating). Guild points start to decrease after turn 45. Following this, at turn 300 city should have -255 points, if they can go negative, so by no means I can get 250 guild points required for guild popup. (-255+320=65, not considering smith build time). Any thoughts?

You know what you're talking about thus
I know I have reuilt it in 3.1 at the least, and is fairly sure I've done so in 3.2 as well, though theret he memories blend together.
Test to demolish all armoury in Ost-in-E' and rebuild them step by step now?

Hello! quick question about family trees! im playing with Baron Samedis submod, where there is the "choose your next heir" ability. I was wondering what would happen if I give that ancillary (heir crown) to a non-family member general, and my king, heir die... does the general become the king? (or do you loose the game because your family tree is dead?) and if it would work, would it start a new family tree? (or is that just too complicated to do?)

thanks!

Depends on your faction. If it has a normal family tree it will not help to give the ancillary to a bloke who is not in the tree.

Assume however you play a faction with a teutonic family tree where you plainly can not see the tree even if it exist trough adoptions (normal ones and Man of the hour) instead of trough wives and children. Here you may give the ancto almost anyone and will make that guy the presumable next faction leader, as every general except perhaps one or two of teh starting generals will be adopted and therefore technically family members.

[riuk881]

your family tree won't die off if you lose your king and hier in the same battle. Unless of course your campaign is going poorly and you've only got the king and heir left...

[tree1212001]

I posted this earlier but seems it didnt go through. Could any one tell me the difference in difficulty like between hard and very hard ? I heard ai bonuses bonus money moral ? Any of this true, i heard trailhog say its not but others do.

[Ngugi]

AFAIK the AI will get more cash on the strat map, be more aggresive both on strat and battle map and on battle map have better moral yes.
Also it's possibly smarter while more aggresive in battle, though since it's not Skynet we're talking about anyhow I will not bet on it ^^