The Official WIP Screenshot Thread

[The Angry Greek]

Can we see what these Varaigs of Khands (The Northmen in the service of Khand) look like? They seem really unique as a unit!

[Bercor]

Variag Axemen:


This is the only Variag unit completed as of right now (the other two are being subjected to touch-ups).

[athanaric]

Variag Axemen:


This is the only Variag unit completed as of right now (the other two are being subjected to touch-ups).

Looking good (minor quibble: I'm not sure about the hafting of the axe, although the general shape is nice). I gather the "other two" are the light HAs and the heavy cavalry?

[The Angry Greek]

I actually think the other two units will be more heavily armed than this lovely gentlemen in tan up there, or at least they will have more of a "Russian" look to them than this guy. I still am loving the work though.

[CountMRVHS]

Yep - the other Variag units include a medium cav spear unit and a gorgeous wrecking ball draped in black chain and wielding a rather large axe.

[athanaric]

But the aforementioned cavalry units will make a return, right?

[webba84]

If you mean the horse archers then Khand has them, yes, but they arent Variag (ie. northmen living in and serving Khand) units.

[The Angry Greek]

Picture Request (Entirely Optional) :How do the units from Far Harad look like? Count mentioned that they were some of the finest looking forces in the game, and I'm curious.

[webba84]

They are Harad units with a particularly nice texture swap.

[The Angry Greek]

What do the Evellyn units look like ?

(Note: Sorry for requesting all these photos, but the wait is actually killing me. I've gotten 5 of my friends at school into TNS, so we can hopefully do multiplayer when DOM comes out.)

[MasterOfNone]

Thanks for the support, Angry Greek. My friend's son has recently left school and also has some friends from school awaiting the game. Glad to see it's still so popular!

They'll probably be some more images up soon.

[webba84]

[Thangaror]

[Jagmodo]

…and so 22 months later I did it again… I visited FATW’s ModDB page and saw Feanaro has published Tharbad preview along with its nice faction symbol. I clicked the symbol thinking "hey, maybe it’ll zoom a bit", and ended in his Photobucked album. And just as back then I’ll nag about something I wasn’t even supposed to see (as I did about the Crown of Gondor…).

Without further ado; I have seen screenshot of Dale’s army with the focus on crossbowman. Is it true that Dale will have a crossbowman unit? If I compare its unit card with the rest of them it leads to conclusion that the answer is YES since they are made in the same style and apparently by the same person. Therefore, I conclude it is unlikely that Feanaro incorporated them for its own pleasure.

Personally, I find it unusual to have crossbows in the lore accurate Middle-earth setting such as this. As you are aware, Tolkien never mentions them and to me they look out of place. If my memory isn’t failing me, even one of the developers few years ago said you will not have crossbows in the DoM…

Well, I’m aware it’s controversial subject as many debates in the TATW’s subforum have been fought around it. I’d only like to hear your view; and if I have been wrong about the whole thing, I apologise for wasting your time.

In the end, I apologise to Feanaro if he feels his privacy was violated; I did not enter your album on purpose. At least now you can make further precautions to prevent such things in the future. Also, I doubt I was the first/last.

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

Well, the crossbows I believe are a late game, high-tier unit, and there to represent that there has been some technological advancement in the intervening centuries between LotR and Fourth Age's timeline. I'm not too happy about them but I can live with it.

As for entering my album, well no problem. Most of the things there are the pictures that turned out to be of too low quality to upload.

[Bercor]

Well, the crossbows I believe are a late game, high-tier unit, and there to represent that there has been some technological advancement in the intervening centuries between LotR and Fourth Age's timeline. I'm not too happy about them but I can live with it.

As for entering my album, well no problem. Most of the things there are the pictures that turned out to be of too low quality to upload.

Nice filter use in that Dale screen .

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

Nice filter use in that Dale screen .

Well, I was experimenting to try and make the picture somewhat close to how they looked in the game. Obviously, I failed.

[Bercor]

I did, in fact, made a crossbow unit card for Dale ...

[Aradan]

Yes, crossbows do exist for Dale. It is a rare unit available only in few regions and only through a specific combination of very high-tier buildings. The idea is to show the technological progress of Middle-earth (Dale being spearheading the innovation) and its slow convergence with the "real-world". Plus, it was supposed to be a sort of easter-egg (they are difficult to unlock, and they wouldn't be available in CBs). Well, so much for surprise.

And yes, we are aware of the controversy. However we feel our approach, with crossbow as a rare weapon newly discovered by the most technologically innovative faction, is quite different to the traditional "crossbows as standard dwarven ranged weapon, because their arms are short" approach, and it doesn't contradict the lore.

That said, feel free to moan.

[Jagmodo]

Thanks for the clarification. As Feanaro said, I can live with it. You have given a reasonable explanation. I guess it’s a logical development of the ballista present in the previous incarnations of the mod. Still, I’m not sure how I feel about it… I'll get used to it, probably.

EDIT:

Sorry for ruining the surprise. That said, don't do the same with dwarven blunderbuss, will ya...