RNJ 2.0
The Ran No Jidai team is happy to announce the release of Ran No Jidai 2.0. This version builds upon the foundations of Sengoku period samurai warfare set out in RNJ 1.0, which followed in the tradition of the original ‘Total War’ game – ‘Shogun Total War’. The team has strived to improve many aspects of gameplay and give the game a more authentic Japanese feel.
Features
The Japanese warring clans have all been significantly reworked, each faction now has a much clearer identity with their own historical prologue, strengths and weaknesses, victory storylines and videos. A brand new clan, the Ikko-Ikki rebels (a hording faction), is now included in RNJ 2.0 and immediately begin their siege of Kyoto marking the beginning of the Sengoku period in the game. From this starting point each clan must strive to dominate Japan by any means necessary.
A vast number of new units, mercenaries and gunpowder weapons have been added to the game. Some units may only be recruited by specific factions, for example new Katana (ashigaru sword) units for the Urakami clan, as these people were historically expert metalworkers and sword smiths. Other new units are recruited based on religion, such as Buddhist warrior monks which are only available to Buddhist factions. Particular regions in the map give access to unique mercenaries and wandering Ronin who can join your armies for a price.
The AI has been improved and provides greater challenge in the campaign map and battles. In the campaign map, the AI is likely to recruit large enemy armies and attempt surprise invasions by both land and sea. As the difficulty level increases, you should expect to encounter more aggressive opponents and natural disasters which can scupper your best laid plans. In battles, the AI now devises better strategies in melee and more effective use of missile weapons. For example, the AI will now only use fire arrows and which limits the effectiveness of your sieges, you’ll need to build additional siege units to stand any chance of entering the settlement. In addition, when engaging in pitched battles, there are numerous battle formations available which can be used to strategically defeat and outmaneuver your enemies.
The economy, settlements, governors and generals have all been updated and improved. New buildings can be constructed and settlements have been balanced in unrest and growth. The progression of settlements is more gradual and now governors can no longer be recruited at lower-end settlements. The generals themselves have been developed, with the traits system, ancillaries and army supplies all enriched with numerous new traits and ancillaries added to the game. Also, agents have been upgraded and diplomats and assassins can be used as semi-spies to get tracking traits.
Some factions have certain historical characteristics which increase their generals and agents traits, to name a few; expert diplomats for Matsudaira, great and corrupt generals for Hojo, trade bonuses for Imagawa and Ouchi, farming bonus to Miyoshi, great sailors for Mori, leadership bonus for Oda, good Cavalry Generals for Satomi, famous generals for Uesugi and aristocratic family & influence for Chosokabe. In the game, every single faction has been reworked, to give more character to the clans and give more strengths and weaknesses as based on historical records.
Giving the game more of a Japanese feel and atmosphere has been an important aim in RNJ 2.0. All traces of the Western Romanised atmosphere from Barbarian Invasion (BI) have been removed and replaced with Japanese graphics and sounds. The background music is now authentic and is appropriate to the situation in the game, all the in-game voices are a mixture of actual Japanese and English spoken with a Japanese accent. Other sound effects such as battle SFX have been added which help give the game more of an immersive Japanese atmosphere.
The artwork and graphics are now totally Japanese-stylized, with 2D artwork and graphics created to represent events in the game, with updated galleries of generals & agents portraits, and new unit cards and building cards featuring in RNJ 2.0. The artwork has been created in the spirit of exemplifying actual historical events and customs, such as the practice of crucifying enemy spies when a spy is captured. In battles, the 3D artwork and skins for new units is incredibly detailed and visually impressive, such as the new battlefield ninja unit and new boats and ships.
The map of Japan and environments in the game has been visually improved and the climactic regions of Japan are now based on real-life climate maps. These climates and environments help some factions in their food harvests, while other factions are hindered by harsh weather and freezing conditions, which provides more variety and geographical challenges in gameplay. The battle map is visually improved by the new environments and battlefields have climate and terrain variations enabling for a more diversified series of battles.
Whenever possible, the historical accuracy of the period has been included and maintained in RNJ 2.0, for example the starting locations and diplomacy of the various clans as well as their family trees and historical leaders. The effects of competing religions at that time in Japan have been included in the game, as many clans sought to not only increase their own power, but also spread faiths throughout Japan. Another historical element is the introduction of Western technologies and weapons, which pits the ancient samurai form of warfare of bows, sword and spears against new regimented gunpowder armies, which method of warfare will be triumphant?
Other extra features of RNJ 2.0 include the option of force diplomacy when you want to customize your experience or create scenarios. On a more technical level there are new graphics options to set your screen resolution and preferences to 16-bit color which greatly enhances the speed of the game. Also the RNJ 2.0 installer has been created, to make easy installation of RNJ 2.0 as a Mod-folder program in the Barbarian Invasion (BI) folder.
Ran No Jidai 2.0 sets the new benchmark for this Mod and we hope you enjoy the many new features which have been added or improved to enhance the gameplay and give the game a more authentic and historical Japanese feel. We decided January 2012 would be a good time to release RNJ 2.0, and there are plenty of new projects and improvements already in the pipeline for upcoming releases and patches. You can expect more updates and additions to the game in the near future, so be sure to watch this space and we hope you enjoy playing and exploring Ran No Jidai 2.0.
Thanks from all the RNJ team!
More download links to follow soon.
Ran no Jidai 2.0
RNJ 2.0
RNJ 2.6 patch
RNJ 2.8 patch
Ran no Jidai 2.8 full with optional Russian translation - thanks BagaturPasha
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Originally Posted by BiggBudd
