Eriador Reworked Submod

[Magas of Cyrene]

The goal of this submod is to flesh out this Faction more and rebalance it.

Here are the goals (for Phase I):

SUGGESTIONS

1. Armour upgrades. It'd be nice if they were graphically represented (militias starting in leather they have now to get chainmail later etc.).
2. More regional and Dúnedain units. Would give the faction more flavour...No idea what units they could be though, would need to do some research.
3. Hobbit units are actually superior to Men militia units. While it makes sense in the case of Bandobras archers, hobbitry in-arms and regular hobbit archers are definitely better than their men counterparts. Going to make them weaker compared to Men.
4. Annúminas and Amon Sûl could use unique graphics on the strategy map.
5. I'm not sure if it's possible, but it'd be nice if the bodyguards changed to Arnorian knights after the remergence.
6. It's not related to Eradior per se, but the Orcs of Gundabad seem too weak and aren't very aggressive.
7. Arnor/Dúnedain/Eradior influenced traits. For an instance : "Dúnedain ancestry: +1 attack, +1 troop morale, +1 health - your ancestry gives you confidence and strength to defend the lands of your people."
8. I'm not sure Gandalf should be one of the Eriador generals to be honest...
9. Eriador needs more names for the generals.

UNITS

1. I think Eriador could use a halberd milita unit. Nothing too flashy, with similar stats to the other militia units, but capable of piercing armour (since lumbermen are not that easy to get).
2. Archer militia - I reckon it'd make more sense if they used crossbows instead - which seem to be better suited for milita units as it requires little training to use, unlike the bows. It'd also give the faction some early armour piercing units as well as make the Woodland hunters more unique.
3. In my opinion, the merchants unit doesn't really fit - as I feel that the merchants would rather hire mercenaries to protect them instead of fighting themselves...could be replaced by the aforementioned Halberd militas.
4. I think Dúnedain units should inspire nearby troops. At least in the Eriador period.
5. Hobbit slingers - a new unit or perhaps taking the place of hobbit archers?


After these goals are met, there might be more coming. I'm gonna start working on simple things for now, but could use your help! Louis Lux has offered to help with skinning/modelling, but there's still a lot to be done so if you feel you can help (in any way), it'd be greatly appreciated. Or perhaps someone would like to join the team? Contact me!

I've started some preliminary work already, but it's still far from being complete.

[Disastras]

Too soon... jk. Sounds like an ambitious project. I would love to see visual armor upgrades. Best of luck!

[Asparagus]

Why would hobbits ever be better fighters than men? They're both smaller and weaker.

[Magas of Cyrene]

Why would hobbits ever be better fighters than men? They're both smaller and weaker.

Yeah, that's my point...going to change it so that hobbits are weaker (with the exception of Bandobras possibly).

[Hero of the West]

you may use the small project weathertop model if you want to

[Asparagus]

Ah I see. The suggestion's kinda misleading you may want to fix it +rep.

[The Mongol]

Instead of opting for a Halberd militia, why not just remove the lumber camp building line? I have no idea why the Woodsmen and Lumbermen aren't just attached to the Barracks and Ranges, there isn't anything special about them.


Or don't, just a thought.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

Instead of opting for a Halberd militia, why not just remove the lumber camp building line? I have no idea why the Woodsmen and Lumbermen aren't just attached to the Barracks and Ranges, there isn't anything special about them.


Or don't, just a thought.

because woodsmen and woodland hunters are AOR units only availabole in areas with a forest.
so they need a special building for forest areas,its like saying why do trolls need troll pens,cant we hire them in the barracks/with the wargs?

[The Mongol]

because woodsmen and woodland hunters are AOR units only availabole in areas with a forest.
so they need a special building for forest areas,its like saying why do trolls need troll pens,cant we hire them in the barracks/with the wargs?

Trolls are different, they aren't really classified as Infantry or Cavalry (well, technically they are heavy cav in game iirc). Lumbermen and Woodsmen are just basic infantry and archers, should we restrict the Warriors of Mithlond to Mithlond as well? I realize for lore/realism sake they should be trained from forests, but from a gameplay standpoint it's pretty lame to have an entire building line for completely uninteresting units. Just my opinion though, and if it bothered me enough I'd have modded it, but it's not a big deal because I just don't use those units anyways.


Anyways, to avoid derailing this thread too much, I'll attempt to add some conversation: I never really get to use the Dunedain units, by the time I have the buildings that are required to build them, I've reached the point where I can reforge Arnor anyway. Is there any reason the Dunedain units aren't still available as Arnor? I guess the reformation of the military would kind of eliminate those rogue Dunedain units... but I'd still like to see the Dunedain have more usage.

[Myoria]

I like a lot of your ideas.

How about removing a couple of towns from Eriador at the beginning - this will slow them down and maybe make the Arnor campagin more interesting (as you won't be able to knock out OoG and Isenguard so quickly.

Good luck with the project - I would help but have minimal modding skills and even less time

[Magas of Cyrene]

As promised, releasing first (Alpha version) unit for testing:

Bree Crossbow Militia, bear in mind that I haven't changed the unit graphics yet so they still appear to be using bows. Also, the description is currently just a placeholder. Of course it'll be changed in later versions. Anyway, I'd be really grateful if you guys tested them out in battles (in various conditions if you can) and sent me your feedback. Are they too good/weak? Is the range too long/short? Etc. etc.

Installation instructions:

1. BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE OVERWRITING THEM!
2. Place export_descr_unit.txt into your Medieval II/mods/Third_Age/data folder.
3. Place export_units.txt into your Medieval II/mods/Third_Age/data/text folder.
4. Place Bree_Crossbow_Militia_info.tga into your Medieval II/mods/Third_Age/data/ui/units_info/turks folder.
5. Place Bree_Crossbow_Militia.tga into your Medieval II/mods/Third_Age/data/ui/units/turks folder.
6. Done!

Like I've said, I'd appreciate the feedback. Working on other units as well. Currently modifying Hobbitry at-arms.

[sirfiggin]

just thinking... makes sense for arnorian heavy archers to have AP, even if with a lower attack, since they are more or less longbowmen, and arnor would need a counter for trolls

[Magas of Cyrene]

just thinking... makes sense for arnorian heavy archers to have AP, even if with a lower attack, since they are more or less longbowmen, and arnor would need a counter for trolls

Yes, I'd give the Dúnedain Rangers AP, but they're a very late period unit. Hence why I'm adding Crossbow Militia and Halberd Militia.

[Lothar135]

just thinking... makes sense for arnorian heavy archers to have AP, even if with a lower attack, since they are more or less longbowmen, and arnor would need a counter for trolls

You should try submod AUM 2.0. Its creator added several units to Arnor, including Arnorian dismounted knights with AP two handed swords.

About trolls. No, I do not think Arnor needs another troll counter. Just kill them with cavalry. It can be done very nicely. Archers are imho too strong in Third age, no need for even stronger archer unit type.

About Eriador units. I would suggest moving woodland hunters and lumbermen to barracks instead of hunting lodge. With that you have good AP unit (lumbermen) which can be recruited anywhere. No another AP needed.

[DisgruntledGoat]

About Eriador units. I would suggest moving woodland hunters and lumbermen to barracks instead of hunting lodge. With that you have good AP unit (lumbermen) which can be recruited anywhere. No another AP needed.

Its amazing how one spends so much time thinking of ways to challenge a player and present a unique experience and first thing people do is remove all of that to make things easier....

[Myoria]

Its amazing how one spends so much time thinking of ways to challenge a player and present a unique experience and first thing people do is remove all of that to make things easier....

Look at it this way - you've made the effort and lots of people won't remove it, some will but at least you've given them a choice. Personally I wouldn't make this change although I like most of the other ideas in this submod. And so many more people are playing Eriador now that I think all the hard work was well justified

[Lothar135]

Its amazing how one spends so much time thinking of ways to challenge a player and present a unique experience and first thing people do is remove all of that to make things easier....

Well you should look why I have suggested that...since you are mr. Lazy I will explain again.

There was a proposal to make more AP units because of trolls. More AP units (like halbediers or missile AP) would mean that there is no need for training lumbermen and thus for building hunting camp. That means the "way of challenge" (as you said) would not be removed, but not used also. I only proposed something which would left the lumbermen unit in the game and satisfied the need for easily recruitable AP unit.

[jonny duck]

Well you should look why I have suggested that...since you are mr. Lazy I will explain again.

There was a proposal to make more AP units because of trolls. More AP units (like halbediers or missile AP) would mean that there is no need for training lumbermen and thus for building hunting camp. That means the "way of challenge" (as you said) would not be removed, but not used also. I only proposed something which would left the lumbermen unit in the game and satisfied the need for easily recruitable AP unit.

So to remove the challenge of trolls and to make the game easier for yourself you would make AP units easier to recruit?

Trolls are Trolls, they are supposed to be hard to kill, you should think about how to use what you have to kill them, rather than creating new units to do it for you.

Back on subject, if you want to create a halberd unit, why not use the existing hobbitry in arms unit, they seem to be equipped with billhooks and all manner of nasty AP weapons.

[FOR GONDOR]

you know our sub-mod is using already some of these ideas or is well like ours, but no matter, good luck with it and if you are interested in ours give us a look see

[Yarrum]

That won't really make a difference seeing as you still need the hidden resource to recruit them.