The Official WIP Screenshot Thread

[Agent007]

What Thangaror said, flags of ungarrisoned forts. I'm contemplating removing settlement and army banners altogether to force the player to use spies more (RTR VII has done the same), so if that happens, those flags will be gone for good.

Just droping my 2 cents here (the mod is yours, so you do as you find best, of course), to say I personally don't like the campaign maps like that at all, but it is not because of the strategic aspect of having to use my spies more often; evidently this is a personal opinion, but for me the "regular" display on the campaing map has more "finesse", i.e. looks much better.

[Dejeyo]

Great screenies. I could watch them for hours! Thank you for this pre-Christmas gift!

[Basileos Predator]

Woooow just seen those screens.In one (long) word it is just: Aaaawwwwsssoooommmmeeee!
I can't wait to play DOM.
Cheers Predator!

[tone]

Fantastic work on the map! Well done.

[SnuggleBunnies]

Beautiful work guys, been lurking around for quite awhile here.

When it comes to the campaign map, I personally would enjoy the option to have banners on or off for those of us who like playing with them on, maybe through an optional mini patch or some such.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Removing flags just makes the game tedious. I can still see roughly how many troops they have by looking at the units when I click on the town. Just keep them as they are. After all, a real military leader would have scouts and such to roughly inform them of enemy movements. Having to use agents-spies for anything other than spying (I.E. checking out characters, cities unrest and income, etc, etc) kind of breaks the immersion.

Reconnaissance =/= spying. Recon is gathered by scouts.

[Stath's]

Just to add my opinion, too, I also find the removing of the flags not a good move. I even tried to find a way to change it in RTR VII but no luck.

[Aradan]

Okies, flags stay then, if the majority of players prefer it that way. Ignore my comment and feel free to continue admiring the map.

[Agent007]

Okies, flags stay then, if the majority of players prefer it that way. Ignore my comment and feel free to continue admiring the map.

(turns Saruman's voice mod on): It's a wise move, my friend.

[Stath's]

[intel]

This got to be the most beautiful campaign map ever done on RTW engine. It topples RS II's map, and that is a best compliment it could got!

Since you have involuntarily previewed Gondorian soldiers, could you please hint/tell us if any major changes are planned for Adunabar faction looks? Will there be any changes to both of the Dunedainic unit rosters?

[Éorl]

Since you have involuntarily previewed Gondorian soldiers, could you please hint/tell us if any major changes are planned for Adunabar faction looks? Will there be any changes to both of the Dunedainic unit rosters?

Hint...

Well, there's something happening to the units currently, yes, a bit more than we originally set out to do.

Wait until christmas for further news on this, here.

[intel]

Since you have involuntarily previewed Gondorian soldiers, could you please hint/tell us if any major changes are planned for Adunabar faction looks? Will there be any changes to both of the Dunedainic unit rosters?

Hint...

Well, there's something happening to the units currently, yes, a bit more than we originally set out to do.

Wait until christmas for further news on this, here.

Merry X-mas!

[Aradan]

The settlement in Gorgoroth is a mining/quarrying centre (Gorgoroth has both iron and stone as resources). It has a relatively small population, no farmland and is rather bleak. NW Mordor does have grass in battle-map mode btw, it's just not there in strat-map mode.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Black grass, though, from what I recall.

[Aradan]

Well, I wouldn't call it "lush".

[Éorl]

Nope, the battlemap grass isn't black in Mordor, its a scruffy-looking dry bright desaturated beige-brown.

[Revelo]

Nope, the battlemap grass isn't black in Mordor, its a scruffy-looking dry bright desaturated beige-brown.

There's a cream for that.

[Jagmodo]

My apologies, I’m biting my tongue for a few days and just can’t anymore...

I have seen that you have invested effort to change representation of the Crown of Gondor on the units, banners, sails... While you explained why you used plain or typical image of the crown before (picture 1 - I.), your newest choice seems highly influenced by the Peter Jackson’s LotR movies. New crown looks very similar to the crown shown in The Return of the King movie (picture 1 - II.) and is therefore still inaccurate by the lore.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I certainly don’t mind if you find inspiration from certain visual style shown in the movies if those are lore-respecting but in this case it is not. I just find it strange if you have redone it that you didn’t do justice to the lore... I doubt that you didn’t know how it should look so why? Did you find Peter Jackson’s style more appealing? Is the Winged Crown too big to be placed on the shields or banners; or maybe doesn’t look good?

Here is how J.R.R. Tolkien imagined Winged Crown and there are some other artistic representations of it:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Maybe you will tell me that I’m nitpicking (as usual) but I find correct representation of faction symbols and heraldry quite important since it represents faction visually and Tolkien himself did analyzed it into details. We could see it on almost every soldier so... Also, you have moved unique objects, among them the Crown from “ancillaries” to traits, so correct visual representation could not be seen here anymore.

Yes, I know that I’m not in the position to demand anything and this post probably looks tremendously ungrateful, but since you aim to represent Middle-earth as Tolkien imagined it I thought I would share an opinion. Once again, I apologise if that post sounded too critical and focused on trivial thing.

[Éorl]

Well, Jagmodo, while what you say is certainly fair and true, I've chosen the design used by the movies because its beautiful, and it looks more like a crown of sorts. Truth be told - I didn't know that Tolkien actually designed the crown.

I'm certainly not above changing the design again. We'll have a little chat about this in the dev team.

Another truth that needs to be told: EVERYONE that is into design stuff is at odds with J.R.R Tolkien's visualization of the gondorian helmets with the wings attached and tries to come up with a design that looks elegant and not ridiculous. Frankly, the crown Tolkien designed looks a bit silly in my eyes, despite the overall beauty of his sub-creation. I think Tolkien, as obsessed with detail as he was, wouldn't mind artists coming in and changing some design details for the better if they remain true to his works in spirit.