Putting together a Team

[ZT Strike]

I would like to put a team together to make a mod for Empire. The mod will be call Imperial Legacy.

There are many idea I have for the mod, however I am taking ideas. I will be working as the project head for the mod, making the decisions to have what put in or what to have changed. I am always open to ideas. There are a few primary things I would like to do with the Mod. Mainly expand or refit.

A few ideas of mine are:
1) Have the campaign end in 1850
2) Remake tech tree
3) Remake France Revolutionary Units (IE, if there is a french revolution the units will change to Napoleonic Units.)
4)Rework Units (mainly add special units)
5)Redesign campaign map (mainly break apart big provinces in Europe, expand America, and add theaters)
and much more

So any takers or help?

Members:
Project Lead: ZT Strike
Prime Assistant: p.jakub88
Second Assistant: JPHILP!

[p.jakub88]

I would like to put a team together to make a mod for Empire. The mod will be call Imperial Legacy.

There are many idea I have for the mod, however I am taking ideas. I will be working as the project head for the mod, making the decisions to have what put in or what to have changed. I am always open to ideas. There are a few primary things I would like to do with the Mod. Mainly expand or refit.

A few ideas of mine are:
1) Have the campaign end in 1850
2) Remake tech tree
3) Remake France Revolutionary Units (IE, if there is a french revolution the units will change to Napoleonic Units.)
4)Rework Units (mainly add special units)
5)Redesign campaign map (mainly break apart big provinces in Europe, expand America, and add theaters)
and much more

So any takers or help?

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I. I could provide for you some informations about the XIX technology tree:


First of all, the list of technologies that were not used before XIX century (some of them are present in the default Empire: Total War...):

---> trains and railroads (used in big numbers about 1840s in England),

---> rifled naval cannons (1860),

---> steam frigate (1851 Le Napoleon = 90 guns),

---> small steam battle ships (few cannons - the beginning of the XIX century),

---> screw propeller for ships (1830 - Swedish or Norwegian discovery),

---> fully metal warships (American Civil War 1860 - 1865),

---> torpedoes (late XIX century),

---> Gatling machine gun (in American Civil War 1860 for sure by the Union Army - few pieces only...),

---> rifled muskets for infantry regiments (in 1800 and in the Napoleonic Era = only ca. 30 000 British soldiers used Baker's musket in battle),

---> rifled muskets for cavalry regiments (short carbines for dragoons - the beginning of XIX century),

---> advanced economy doctrines (classical economy - the end of XVIII and XIX century, division of labour XIX century),

---> mass production ( in the Victoria Queen Era first in the noticeable way),

---> advanced textile machines (fully mechanized loom in the second half of XIX century),

---> advanced agricultural technologies (i.e selective breeding in modern sense - XIX century),

---> advanced philosophy doctrines (i.e abolition of slavery in the XIX century; first free country for Afro-Americans in Africa: "Liberia").

---> extensive use of colonial plantations in Americas and Caribbean (coffee, sugar, etc - in XIX century).

---> percussive cap ammo for rifles (about 1830s),

---> shrapnel shot (1804),

---> naval rockets (1805 - only for attacking ports and forts from sea),

---> modern ammo for artillery cannons (in the Zulu Wars used by the British - 1880s).


II. Additional help from my side:

1) I know, how to edit startpos.esf (basics and some advanced knowledge).

2) I made some mods based on the "Text Editing and Scripting".

3) I made few mods based on the visual aspects of ETW (user interface mods, editing game textures).

4) I' m not skilled in Empire: Total War mapping.

5) If you have additional questions, feel free to ask!


I hope that those informations will be useful for you (taken from English Wikipedia).

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[ZT Strike]

Wow, very nice. I take it I can count you in?

[p.jakub88]

Wow, very nice. I take it I can count you in?

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Thank You! +rep

I could help You in some historical stuff, if You wish


I. Released mods implementations:

1) You could implement some of my released mods to your project, if You wish so (i said "some", because only few are compatible with ETW 1.6 version).

2) I could explain You, how to make the changes that i have made in my other mods --> those ones that are compatible only with ETW 1.5 (making them compatible with ETW 1.6 will be very easy).

3) My visual mods could be useful with any time frame (like no red battlefield borders, etc).

4) Ask other modders for the possibility of implement their mods.

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II. Recommended changes (i said recommended, because it is Your choice - what changes You will put inside Your mod):

1) Your mod time frame will be in the "borders" of Age of Sail of course (1650 - 1850).

2) I recommend to modify the types of cannons per ship and to modify the number of crew per ship (you will need to edit just one db table + startpos.esf).

3) Ship unit rooster should be slightly changed (new steam warships and more carronade frigates).

4) The big deal is to force the CAI to perform better and according to your will in the proper historic period.

5) The hardest thing to modify will be the events after the 1789 year, because after the 1815 year we had "status quo" in Europe - until the time of the French <-> Prussian War ( ca. 1870 - 1871) and of course the First World War (1914 - 1918).

6) From 1815 to 1830 we had in Europe a "Kingdom of Warsaw" --> created by Napoleon Bonaparte, destroyed by the Russian Emperor (tzar) after the fall of the "November Uprising" (so a sort of France protectorate).

7) From about 1830 we have Mexico as a independent country and Greece (former Ottoman Empire protectorate).

8) Some regions in South America become independent (former Spain colonies) in the XIX century after the Napoleonic Era.

9) We have of course the United States of America, British Indies and Canada + Australia.

10) So modding diplomacy too.

11) Changes in the Victory Conditions (1700 - 1850?).

12) Changes in unit animations (repeated rifles, ammo magazines).

13) New types of land cannons (there were many changes in cannons lb during the Napoleonic Era and after that).

14) More accurate firing weapons (rifled muskets, etc).

15) Professional and enlistment armies (Great Britain, etc).

16) XIX century is the age of "colonization" and "imperialism" --> Europeans discovered almost all the "white spots" on the map (beside North and South Pole and highest mountains).

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III. Changes that are not possible for now (i will tell You the reason why):

1) Adding new regions into the default Grand Campaign map is impossible ---> we haven't got proper modding tools created for that purpose.

2) Modding precisely the morale and accuracy system is impossible (too complicated, too many factors not included in db tables).

3) Modding precisely and completely the Battle Artificial Intelligence is impossible (only battle formations, etc).

4) Making ETW trade regions playable is impossible (it is unfortunately not possible for now, i asked about this idea some time ago).

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[p.jakub88]

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I. I made some progress in the default startpos editing and those informations could be useful for You ZT Strike:

1) It is possible to change the starting year for the default Grand Campaign .

2) It is possible to make the default Grand Campaign longer .

3) It is possible to change the Victory Conditions for the default playable nations .

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II. Question to You --> what about the number of playable countries in Your future mod:

1) How many countries will be playable at the starting year of Your Imperial Legacy mod?

2) What Grand Campaign modes will be available?

3) What about the Victory Conditions?

4) What about the region ownership on the start of Your Grand Campaign?

5) What about the diplomacy: number of protectorates, starting alliances, etc?

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[Flikitos]

I would like to put a team together to make a mod for Empire. The mod will be call Imperial Legacy.


3) Remake France Revolutionary Units (IE, if there is a french revolution the units will change to Napoleonic Units.)

Members:
Project Lead: ZT Strike

If you looked a bit on the forum, you would have seen that there is already a mod that change the uniforms for the French revolutionary period -see my signatre.

[p.jakub88]

If you looked a bit on the forum, you would have seen that there is already a mod that change the uniforms for the French revolutionary period -see my signatre.

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ZT Strike said, that the French Revolutionary units will be changed into Napoleonic units --> Napoleonic period (1802 - 1815) after Napoleon became the French Emperor (1802).

I informed him earlier, that he needs to ask for a permission to use 3rd party mods in his project.

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[ZT Strike]

Very nice. I have yet to start outlining my goals, however it will be nice to access what we can and can not do. I would like to think that someone has figured out a way to change the map/maps for the game. It has been done for the previous games.

Even if that is impossible, I would think that many things I want to do are possible. Many are close to your suggestions.
Are we establish what is fully impossible, we can begin a to-do-list of what needs to be done.

[p.jakub88]

Very nice. I have yet to start outlining my goals, however it will be nice to access what we can and can not do. I would like to think that someone has figured out a way to change the map/maps for the game. It has been done for the previous games.

Even if that is impossible, I would think that many things I want to do are possible. Many are close to your suggestions.
Are we establish what is fully impossible, we can begin a to-do-list of what needs to be done.

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I. I could say on 100% sure, that changes in the Empire: Total War Grand Campaign map (adding new regions, territories, etc) is completely impossible for today (4 December 2010).

Most things are possible to do and some of them are very easy to do.

So, let's start from hearing what You would like to have in Your mod!

We could begin even tomorrow, but i will return from my University on about 20.30 PM --> so be patient.

During this time, you should present for us a list, with your ideas for this future mod.

This will be a [WIP] - work in progress, so we have plenty of time to make a new mod .

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II. Basic informations, that i will need to know:

1) Your mod compatibility.

2) Units.

3) The list of the faction playable and unplayable.

4) Victory Conditions.

5) Unit stats.

6) Technology tree.

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III. What i already know about your mod:

1) Grand Campaign time frame - from 1700 to 1850.

2) Mod name: Imperial Legacy

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[jjja494]

Despite my poor modding skills I would like to say that this mod looks quite promising if you continue with it. If you have made progress so far. The Napoleonic era is by far my favorite period in history and I'm looking foward to this perhaps becoming a full mod. Then perhaps Napoleon will be proven to be a half-done game. To when you have you priorities straitened out, will you be changing up the naval combat at all?

[p.jakub88]

Despite my poor modding skills I would like to say that this mod looks quite promising if you continue with it. If you have made progress so far. The Napoleonic era is by far my favorite period in history and I'm looking foward to this perhaps becoming a full mod. Then perhaps Napoleon will be proven to be a half-done game. To when you have you priorities straitened out, will you be changing up the naval combat at all?

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ZT Strike didn't answer my previous post, so i 'm not able to tell you about the mod progress.

Two things are known for sure: the mod title and the Grand Campaign time frame.

All other things depends of the mod project head, but i' m not responsible of those things.

I suggested, that naval warfare should be changed to represent the end of the "Age of Sail" (steam ships, etc).

I just made a mod, which changed the crew size on ships - according to historical accuracy.

I recommend to implement such changes to this future mod.

ZT Strike asked me about the possibility of modding the campaign map ---> it is unfortunately impossible for now (only adding or changing the map resources like farms, etc).

It seems to me, that the idea about this mod is almost dead or already died.

I have no contact with ZT Strike beside the forum posting.

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[ZT Strike]

I'm sorry, I have been sick the last couple of days. I will outline my mod later today, likely after I am done with my speech final.

[p.jakub88]

Ok, no problem for me --> i have lot of time.

If you are ready just write a new post or PM.

[ZT Strike]

Things to do:
Campaign:
1) Game start in 1700 and end in 1850
2) Remove New Spain, Louisiana, and The 13 Colonies from the game. They are owned by their actual empires.
3) Edit French Units, when a successful revolution takes place in France, units change to Napoleonic Units (Blue Uniforms)
4) Playable Factions will remain the same, unless we can add the US into the Grand Campaign
5) Edit tech tree, More expansive

Units
1) Add Napoleonic Era Units to Game, IE Britannian Black Watch, French Old Guard

I will add more to this later, however I have had a prolonged series of headaches lately and I can't think straight.

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

Things to do:
Campaign:
1) Game start in 1700 and end in 1850
2) Remove New Spain, Louisiana, and The 13 Colonies from the game. They are owned by their actual empires.
3) Edit French Units, when a successful revolution takes place in France, units change to Napoleonic Units (Blue Uniforms)
4) Playable Factions will remain the same, unless we can add the US into the Grand Campaign
5) Edit tech tree, More expansive

Units
1) Add Napoleonic Era Units to Game, IE Britannian Black Watch, French Old Guard

I will add more to this later, however I have had a prolonged series of headaches lately and I can't think straight.

Next week I will start on these. I can do these, although I think that before French specific units we need units for the early 19th century. I suggest we start just by making units. Breech loading rifles were first used large scale in 1842, just within the timeframe, so we could just copy the Ferguson riflemen, have them fight as line infantry, and give them the line infantry model. The line riflemen would also have a much shorter reload time.

I will edit the campaign to remove the colony factions. I will experiment with the theatres (something I haven't done before). Also if I can do that we are going to need to remove and merge a number of regions, or remove small towns, as adding theatres will slow the campaign a great deal (compare the speeds of the grand campaign with the tutorial campaigns). If I am able to add new regions, I might be able to add Switzerland, which could be easy since the faction is already in the game(but not used). Other factions that could be added are Tuscany, Mecklenburg(probably not worth the effort), Schleswig-Holstein(again not worth the effort) and the Khanate of Khiva (central Asia). Could add rename unused factions as the Qing dynasty and a generic Japanese faction.

For file sharing I suggest that we just upload a zip file to this thread.

[Jaques de Molay1]

do u think u can bring back the Generals speech thing from previous total war titles

[ZT Strike]

I don't know, that would be something nice. If so we will have to put down some recording time for the speeches.

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

I'm not sure if it's possible to add new theatre's but I suggest that if you can, add a China/Indochina theatre (possibly with Japan), a Sub-Saharan theatre and a central Asian theatre.

[ZT Strike]

Would love some expaned theathers and some new ones. I would love to play the game as a whole world. Empire would have been good for that.

[ZT Strike]

ok, I'm ready to get this mod up and running. We at least have somethings we want to see done so we can start with that. If you have something you know you can do, just let me know and start away. I have been busy with school and work, so I won't be the most active in this project. p.jakub88 most of the changes in your mod with the tech and effected units I like. It would be nice to start with editing those files.