Horsemen Of The Steppe

[Silesian_Noble]

No, rivers won't be navigable, at least not in first version. Such solution got some great adventages but also disadventages and need a great amount of work to function properly.

I'm working on another map update. It will include 199 settlements placed on the map but some of the settlements will be edited later (some Arabic for example).

[Silesian_Noble]

OK guys, here is what I promised – another sneak preview of map's development with all 199 settlements on it. Still this is not the final version, I wait for your good advice (supported by historical knowledge) so I could improve the settlements net.


Map drawing with 199 signed settlements and with visible rivers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Map drawing with 199 settlements, signed factions and their starting position:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Map drawing with 199 signed settlements and factions starting positions:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Some screen shots:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

List of 199 settlements:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Abiverd
Acre
Al Ahsa
Alexandria
Almaliq
Amul
Angara
Ankyra
Annah
Antioch
Aqaba
Aqsu
Ardebil
Arges
Astur
Aswan
Asyut
Attalia
Aydhab
Badakhshan
Bagdad
Balasaghun
Balkh
Bamiyan
Banjar
Banpur
Barkul
Basra
Belaya Vezha
Bihar
Binket
Bishbaliq
Bukhara
Cairo
Cesarea
Chaghaniyan
Cherchen
Cherdyn
Chernihiv
Chersonessos
Chimgi Tura
Chu
Constantinople
Cuna
Damascus
Damghan
Darghan
Dehistan
Delhi
Derbent
Don
Dunhuang
Durostolon
Dvin
Dzabhan
Dzhulat
Edessa
Emder
Emil
Esztergom
Fayd
Ferava
Firuzkuh
Ganja
Gartok
Ghazna
Gilgit
Great Bolgar
Gurganj
Gurhan
Gyulafehervar
Halych
Hamadan
Hami
Herat
Hormuz
Iconium
Imako
Isfahan
Ishim
Jend
Jerusalem
Kabul
Kanglykent
Kartikeyapura
Karukia
Kashgar
Kasra
Kassa
Kath
Kathmandu
Katun
Kelat
Kemidzkhet
Ket
Khanaush
Khlat
Khojend
Khotan
Kiev
Kirman
Kirmanshah
Kocho
Kremenchuk
Kucha
Kufah
Kursk
Kutaisi
Kyzyl Qala
Lahore
Leh
Lhasa
Madminiya
Magas
Majar
Masra
Medina
Merw
Mitichihto
Moksha
Mosul
Mugojar Qala
Multan
Namzhan
Nicaea
Nicopsia
Nicosia
Nishapur
Nissa
Niya
Nushi
Nyima
Ob
Oleshye
Ordy Bazar
Oshel
Otrar
Peresechen
Peshavar
Philippoupolis
Pogost Ugorskii
Qandahar
Qarashahr
Qarqarali
Qashliq
Qayaliq
Qazan
Qazwin
Qizil Tura
Raqqa
Ray
Ryazan
Sakja
Samandar
Samarqand
Saqsin
Saraycik
Sebastea
Shagonar
Shamakha
Sharukan
Shiraz
Sinope
Smolensk
Smyrna
Srinagar
Suzdal
Syghnaq
Szerem
Tabas
Tabriz
Tamim
Tana
Taraz
Tarsus
Tayma
Tbilisi
Theodosiopolis
Thessalonica
Tmutorakan
Tobol
Torgaidagy
Trebizond
Tripoli
Turov
Uch
Ukek
Unza
Ustyurt Qala
Uzgend
Vah
Vladimir Volynsky
Vyatka
Wasit
Yaik
Yangikent
Yarkend
Yezd
Zaranj

[Tureuki]

Great

[c_arsenal]

good joob

[toluas]

Nice job!

[Grymloq]

great!

[Drtad]

Just an initial observation- Georgia shouldn't own Tblisi, as that was still the Emirate of Tblisi at the start of the mod (and for a few decades longer). Also I personally think that including the city of Ani (or Kars, Nakhichevan) would be crucial to making the Caucasus a better battlefield for the several factions involved (Romans, Georgians, Shirvan, Alans).

But I do like the look of the map. Very ambitious mod, trying to depict a time that has yet to be done in a total war mod. Keep up the good work.

[Silesian_Noble]

I'm glad you guys like the work so far

Just an initial observation- Georgia shouldn't own Tblisi, as that was still the Emirate of Tblisi at the start of the mod (and for a few decades longer).

Yes I know about it and this is why I hesitated whether to put more recognizable Tbilisi on the map and give it to Georgia (which need to have 2 provinces) despite it is unhistorical, or maybe to put lesser known Telavi on the map which was controlled by Georgians. Emirate of Tbilisi was a small contry and with the scale of HotS map I can't even afford to give them one province. I will consultate that issue with other historians and I may change Tblilisi with Telavi and then there won't be a problem with historical accuracy

Also I personally think that including the city of Ani (or Kars, Nakhichevan) would be crucial to making the Caucasus a better battlefield for the several factions involved (Romans, Georgians, Shirvan, Alans).

There are already 4 rebelious provinces in Transcaucasus and they are one of the smallest one the map, I think this is enough. This must be enough because HotS policy is to put possible small number of rebelious provinces. To be honest I have been adviced recently to cut a province in that region... But I probably won't, I will rather leave it as it is.

But I do like the look of the map. Very ambitious mod, trying to depict a time that has yet to be done in a total war mod. Keep up the good work.

Thank you And I'm really sorry I can't put extra province in the region you like so much. I think there are other areas which lack some extra settlements much, much more. Transcaucasus is really nicely packed with settlements slots, you can see that by comparing provinces size.

@ALFAJI
Now that you can see all 199 settlements on the map, what improvments in Arabia would you suggest?

[Drtad]

Yes I know about it and this is why I hesitated whether to put more recognizable Tbilisi on the map and give it to Georgia (which need to have 2 provinces) despite it is unhistorical, or maybe to put lesser known Telavi on the map which was controlled by Georgians. Emirate of Tbilisi was a small contry and with the scale of HotS map I can't even afford to give them one province. I will consultate that issue with other historians and I may change Tblilisi with Telavi and then there won't be a problem with historical accuracy

I think it would be ok if the province was larger than the historical boundaries of the Tblisi emirate, but it's your call. Dvin's territory would actually be much smaller than it's current province as well, but I think it's fine as is.

There are already 4 rebelious provinces in Transcaucasus and they are one of the smallest one the map, I think this is enough. This must be enough because HotS policy is to put possible small number of rebelious provinces. To be honest I have been adviced recently to cut a province in that region... But I probably won't, I will rather leave it as it is.

Ahh I wasn't aware of that. I actually suggested that to increase the number of rebel provinces!

Overall I think the map looks quite balanced.

[Grymloq]

The light blue region near Crimea belongs to Kiev?

[MikeNice808]

Cannot wait for this to come out. Good luck making it. do you have a release date?

[Silesian_Noble]

I had to think over some things and I made decision about HotS development strategy. In the result I will now learn how make units with milkshape (3d models) and photoshop (2d textures) and start the work on rosters. There are a few reasons for such development direction. I have skilled 3d modeller (Kultigin) but he is new in modding and he is not able to learn from English tutorials, also Rus-Bey is willing to help but he also needs assistance in units creation. Then the admins demand is to present own units in order to get own sub-dev-forum. Also I always head a big dream to make units by myself and I have plenty ideas for their design. Taking all that into consideration I decided that focusing on the units area will be the best development option for HotS right now.

It will take some time before I will show you something really good but I'm optimistic. I have already gathered needed tools, there are plenty tutorials available around, I have two good friends who are famous on TWC for their great quality units and who could advise me and finally I already have some knowledge about photoshop. I think the first roster I will start working on will belong to Qumans. As there are great resources for that faction it should not be that hard to design a nice Quman roster. I will base on these:
- Broken Crescent 2; BC2 got some great Quman units but they have one great disadvantage - they are too heavy
- Magyar Mod; made a great Quman light unit
- Russ 2; they made some Quman units too, I need to look at them
If you guys know other mods that have nice Quman units that could possibly be used by HotS - please let me know about it.

I hope to show Quman roster proposal soon.


Now the bad news - focusing on units creation means that the map development will slow down dramatically. Though all 199 settlements are on the map so some scripting job may start. I think that after Wudang release BC 2.3 then he will help with it, but of course it would be really good if someone could join that job too. First scripting job would be adding some factions and editing vanilla factions into HotS factions.

The light blue region near Crimea belongs to Kiev?

Yes, that is correct.

Cannot wait for this to come out. Good luck making it. do you have a release date?

I know that TW gaming is all about fun, but please, lets be a bit serious sometimes too

[Flodin]

Great work

[Hrobatos]

Cannot wait for this to come out. Good luck making it. do you have a release date?

I know that TW gaming is all about fun, but please, lets be a bit serious sometimes too

[MikeNice808]

??????

[Silesian_Noble]

??????

You can't expect a release date from a project that has just been started. Even projects with advanced development don't announce release date because it always pops up something unexpected which cause release postpone and this is the simplest way to lose supporters respect. Just have a look what happened to Tsardoms and their date of preview release. So it is always better to nicely surprise the players then to disappoint them. But please - let's not continue this off topic, I don't want to spoil HotS tread with non-related issues.

[VINC.XXIII]

"I hope to show Quman roster proposal soon."
nice, I'm curious to see how would be one roster in HoST
Just one question, why you don't want use the Rusichi's Cumans as basis(with mention to work it heavily, of course...)
"Magyar Mod" yeah!! the Dome's bows...I'm trying to increase the size of the Rusichi's bows by fun, but, the best would be another bows, directly!

[Silesian_Noble]

"I hope to show Quman roster proposal soon."
nice, I'm curious to see how would be one roster in HoST
Just one question, why you don't want use the Rusichi's Cumans as basis(with mention to work it heavily, of course...)
"Magyar Mod" yeah!! the Dome's bows...I'm trying to increase the size of the Rusichi's bows by fun, but, the best would be another bows, directly!

Of course I have no idea why didn't I mention about Rusichi Certainly Rusichi great units will be used in HotS

[Boustrophedon]

can't wait for this mod to be released such an interesting time/region to make a mod for! keep up the good work SilesianNoble!

[Silesian_Noble]

Sorry for the long pause in posting guys, but I have been a bit sick recently.

Here is a concept of possible Quman roster. Definitely, it will be improved. Also I hope that some units will get native names.

Qumans will share many of their units with two other factions: Qipchaks and Kimeks (all are of old Kimek Kaghanate origin)

Another group of steppic factions that will share many units between themselves will be: Oghuz, Pecheneges, Seljuks (all are of Oghuz origin)

Bashkirs will probably share some units with both those groups. Volga Bulgars and Kyrgyz will probably be more unique factions.

Quman Army Characteristic:

Advantages:
- many units of cavalry
- great horse archers
- many warriors within a unit
- high stamina

Disadvantages:
- lack of heavy units
- lack of infantry
- medicore morale

Details:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

CAVALRY

name: Shepard horsemen
class: very light
armor: no armor
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: knife
skills: poor
stamina: standard
morale: low
availability: very good
price: very low

name: Tribal horsemen
class: light
armor: padded
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: sabre
skills: average
stamina: good
morale: poor
availability: great
price: very low

name: Tribal lancers
class: light
armor: padded + helmets
primary weapon: spear + medium round shield
secondary weapon: light axe
skills: good
stamina: good
morale: average
availability: average
price: average

name: Boarder horsemen
class: light/medium
armor: padded+helmets/partially lamelar
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: spear + medium round shield
skills: good
stamina: very good
morale: good
availability: average
price: average

name: Camel riders
class: light
armor: padded
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: sabre
skills: good
stamina: good
morale: average
availability: average
price: average

name: Khan horse archers
class: light/medium
armor: padded+helmets/partially lamellar
primary weapon: composite bow, small round shield
secondary weapon: light axe
skills: great
stamina: very good
morale: good
availability: average
price: average

name: Khan lancers
class: light/medium
armor: padded+helmets/partially lamellar
primary weapon: spear, large round shield
secondary weapon: axe
skills: very good
stamina: very good
morale: good
availability: average
price: average

name: Noble horsemen
class: medium/heavy
armor: partially lamellar or mail/full lamellar or mail
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: mace, medium round shield
stamina: very good
skills: great
morale: good
availability: average
price: high

name: Noble lancers
class: medium/heavy
armor: partially lamellar or mail/full lamellar or mail
primary weapon: spear, medium teardrop shield
secondary weapon: mace, medium teardrop shield
skills: very good
stamina: very good
morale: very good
availability: low
price: very high

name: Khan guard
class: heavy
armor: full lamellar or mail
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: sabre, medium round shield
skills: great
stamina: very good
morale: very good
availability: general unit
price: -


INFANTRY

name: Shepard archers
class: very light
armour: no armour
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: knife
skills: poor
stamina: average
morale: poor
availability: very good
price: very low

name: Tribal archers
class: light
armor: padded
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: sabre
skills: average
stamina: good
morale: poor
availability: very good
price: low

name: Noble archers
class: medium
armor: partially lamellar or mail
primary weapon: composite bow
secondary weapon: sabre + medium round shield
skills: average
stamina: very good
morale: good
availability: average
price: high

name: Tribal spearmen
class: light
armor: padded + helmets
primary weapon: spear, medium round shield
secondary weapon: -
skills: average
stamina: good
morale: average
availability: average
price: low

name: Khan spearmen
class: ligh/medium
armor: padded + helmets/partially lamellar
primary weapon: spear, large round shield
secondary weapon: -
skills: good
stamina: very good
morale: good
availability: average
price: average

name: Tribal axemen
class: light
armor: padded+helmets
primary weapon: light axe + medium round shield
secondary weapon: -
skills: average
stamina: good
morale: average
availability: good
price: low

name: Khan footmen
class: light/medium
armor: padded + helmets/partially lamellar
primary weapon: sabre, medium round shield
secondary weapon: -
skills: very good
stamina: very good
morale: good
availability: average
price: average

name: Noble footmen
class: medium/heavy
armor: partially lamellar or mail/fully lamellar or mail
primary weapon: mace, medium teardrop shield
secondary weapon: -
stamina: very good
morale: very good
availability: average
price: high