[Idea] WW2: The European Theatre
So, after years of playing Total War mods - good and bad ones, large and small ones, I got almost 50 GB of TW mods on my HDD - and seeing many mods be completed or die out, I thought I'd throw one of my own ideas out there.
Before I start, I'll tell you that I have zero experience with modding and can't model, skin, script, or map, so this is really just an idea I have and its realization entirely depends on whether a competent modder team joins me, or whether this thread inspires someone else to start a similar project.
With that said, here's my idea: what about a Medieval 2 modification set in WW2?
It would start in 1938 and last till about 1960, with 24 turns per year (two turns per month, so turn 1 would be early January, turn 2 late January, turn 3 early February etc etc) and feature all of Europe as well as parts of northern Africa - much like the "standard" map of Total War, but expanded to the north to include the entirety of Scandinavia. This way, all the important players of WW2 in Europe, and all the important theatres, would be represented.
The following factions would be on the map:
1. Germany
2. France
3. The United Kingdom
4. Spain
5. Portugal
6. Switzerland
7. The Netherlands
8. Belgium
9. Italy
10. Denmark
11. Norway
12. Sweden
13. Finland
14. Czechoslovakia
15. Hungary
16. Poland
17. Romania
18. The Soviet Union
19. Lithuania
20. Latvia
21. Estonia
22. Bulgaria
23. Yugoslavia
24. Greece
25. Turkey
26. Albania
27. The United States of America (emergent)
28. Russian Liberation Army (Soviet rebel shadow faction)
29. Ukraine (either emergent on specific factors, or also Soviet rebel shadow faction)
30. German Resistance (German rebel shadow faction that can rebel against the nazi regime)
Some basic gameplay changes would include:
Ideology: Religion would be replaced by ideology, and the priest unit replaced by propagandists. The ideologies would be:
Democracy
Fascism
Communism
National Socialism
Nationalism
Modern buildings: With the game set in the 20th century, you would be able to construct many buildings and infrastructure elements that belong to the modern age. Public transport systems can provide a small income bonus but also cost maintenance (due to tickets sold, and due to having to employ drivers and keep your trams in repair), radio stations can spread propaganda and increase happiness, cinemas can be used like horse racing courses in vanilla Med2 (daily movie showings, weekly movie showings, etc, to increase happiness).
Leaders: There'd be no (visible) family tree due to governments in the 20th century not being based on dynasties, obviously. And, indeed, it would be kinda strange to see a country's leaders leading troops on the battlefield in that age! Instead, there'd be a large amount of generals to lead your armies. "Adoptions" would still be in, but instead be renamed to "Promotions" - promoting an officer to the rank of general and therefore getting a new general + bodyguard for the field!
Having the leaders of the nations as generals in the game is an idea I'd personally like, though. Nothing would be as epic as watching Hitler and Stalin fight each other on the battlefield in person, or having Churchill lead a carge against German infantry. There's even a game that did this before, so...
Modern Warfare: The most important part of a WW2 modification would, of course, be the radically different battles. No more melee infantry, cavalry charges and catapults. There'd be a wide selection of artillery (motars, heavy artillery, anti-tank guns, heavy machine guns) and many different infantry types as well as tanks. Tanks should definitely be possible, and gunpowder infantry with fast reloading times, too. There's even a mod out there (don't remember the name) that managed to have a unit with full-auto firing. The combat would probably feel slightly awkward due to the nature of the Medieval 2 engine as a simulation of medieval combat, but it's definitely possible. Many different infantry types can make for interesting tactical possibilities. Examples:
Bolt-action rifle infantry: high accuracy, longest range, slowest firing rate.
Semi-auto rifle infantry: slightly lower accuracy, slightly lower range, faster firing rate.
SMG infantry: low to medium accuracy, low range, but full auto fire and deadly at close range.
Stormtroopers: uses grenades for powerful area attacks and combat knives/sword bayonets for melee combat; since it's only possible for a unit to have one ranged weapon and a secondary melee weapon, they'd not have guns.
Some factions would still have cavalry, and you can even use it effectively, like the Poles used them in charges against German artillery crews, or how the Hungarians once routed the Soviets with a cavalry charge.
The American intervention: The USA would spawn somewhen in 1942 or 1943 as a horde on the shores of Normandy. Adding the US as a geographical theatre wouldn't be too good an idea, since it'd take away the focus from Europe (less provinces that can be put into Europe) and due to the lacking capability of the AI to do naval invasions they'd probably just sit on their continent and do nothing anyway. Spawning the USA as a horde in northern France would give German players who have conquered it some direct pressure, and would add an interesting point into the game that players will be eagerly awaiting, like the Mongol invasion or the invention of gunpowder in Medieval 2!
AoR recruitment: There'd be heavy use of AoR recruitment, of course. Nations can only recruit their own elite units in their own country, while they have to recruit foreign volunteers in occupied enemy territories. Local units whose recruitment ability is tied to the level of ideology in the province would be included, for example local SS volunteer divisions that can only be recruited once the province has reached a certain percentage of National Socialist ideology, or Red Army volunteers that can only be recruited with a certain percentage of Communist ideology.
So, what do you think about this idea? I think it's definitely possible to create such a mod, and to make it excellent! It's probably quite a lot of work, but it should be worth it for a very unique Total War campaign.
Personally, I have no modding skills, so (as mentioned above) this can only pick up if I get a team together. I can do research though (mostly for Germany, Great Britain and Italy - other regions should have specialized historians who know the history of those areas... I don't know much about the Balkans or Turkey during that era, for example) and take over the organizational responsibilities.
Any thoughts?
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Re: [Idea] WW2: The European Theatre
Originally Posted by Vladyvid
